Making his return to the tournament for the first time in seven years, Croatia’s Marin Cilic began his grass-court campaign with a stunning three-set victory over seventh-seeded Denis Shapovalov of Canada during first-round play at the Libema Open on Monday in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands. The final score was 6-7 (5), 6-4, 7-5.
The Croatian player found himself down 4-2 in the second set but managed to win four consecutive games to even the match at one set apiece. In the deciding third set, Cilic once again fell behind by a break but successfully broke Shapovalov’s serve in each of his last three service games, capitalizing on 7 of 10 break-point opportunities.
Cilic’s next opponent will be Portugal’s Nuno Borges, who defeated France’s Terence Atmane in straight sets, 6-4, 6-4. While Borges managed only two aces compared to Atmane’s 13, he committed significantly fewer unforced errors (12 versus 23) and successfully defended all his service games without facing a single break point.
The fifth-seeded Frenchman Ugo Humbert cruised through his opening match in just over an hour, defeating Swedish qualifier Elias Ymer 6-4, 6-3 in the day’s final contest. Humbert will meet fellow Frenchman Benjamin Bonzi in the next round, after Bonzi dispatched 18-year-old Dutch player Mees Rottgering 6-4, 6-4.
At the BOSS Open in Stuttgart, Germany, Italy’s Mattia Bellucci scored an upset victory over seventh-seeded Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, winning 6-2, 6-7 (5), 6-1 in their first-round encounter.
Following a narrow loss in the second-set tiebreak that prevented a straight-set victory, Bellucci took control of the final set with a commanding 5-0 advantage. Though he connected on only 48% of his first serves in the third set, Bellucci won an impressive 74% of his service points and successfully converted five break-point opportunities compared to just one for Davidovich Fokina.
Spanish player Martin Landaluce achieved his maiden tour-level victory on grass courts Monday, overcoming France’s Pierre-Hugues Herbert 5-7, 6-3, 6-4. Landaluce faces a challenging second-round matchup against second-seeded defending champion Taylor Fritz, who received a first-round bye as one of the tournament’s top four seeds.
Belgian qualifier Gauthier Onclin defeated Hungary’s Fabian Marozsan 7-6 (6), 6-3, and now waits to learn his next opponent from the suspended match between France’s Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard and Russian lucky loser Roman Safiullin. Play was halted due to rain with Safiullin holding a 4-1 lead in the third set.
