Stan Wawrinka, a three-time Grand Slam champion, closed out his clay court career at the professional level on Tuesday with a tough 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 loss to Argentina’s Roman Andres Burruchaga in the opening round of the Estoril Open in Portugal.
The 41-year-old from Switzerland, who has announced he will hang up his racket at the conclusion of this season, fought hard throughout the match — saving 10 of 17 break points and even staving off three match points — before ultimately losing on the 10th point of his final service game. Burruchaga broke Wawrinka’s serve three times in the decisive third set. Notably, Wawrinka had won this same tournament back in 2013.
Two of the three seeded players competing Tuesday came away with wins. Fifth-seeded Nuno Borges of Portugal defeated Brazilian qualifier Orlando Luz, 6-3, 6-3, while No. 8 Pablo Carreno Busta of Spain dominated Lithuania’s Vilius Gaubas, 6-1, 6-3. The exception was sixth-seed Botic van de Zandschulp of the Netherlands, who was upset by Portugal’s Jamie Faria, 6-3, 6-4.
Among other first-round results at the Estoril Open: Peruvian qualifier Gonzalo Bueno eliminated Portuguese wild-card Tiago Periera, 6-3, 1-6, 7-6 (5); Kazakhstan’s Timofey Skatov outlasted Dutchman Jesper de Jong, 1-6, 6-4, 6-3; France’s lucky-loser Kyrian Jacquet defeated Spain’s Daniel Merida Aguilar, 1-6, 6-1, 7-5; and Frenchman Hugo Gaston advanced when Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Damir Dzumhur retired trailing 5-0 in the first set.
At the Generali Open in Kitzbuhel, Austria, a matchup between two former tournament champions produced a tight contest. Argentina’s Sebastian Baez, who claimed the title in 2023, defeated Serbia’s Miomir Kecmanovic — the 2020 champion — by a score of 6-3, 3-6, 6-4.
Baez secured the victory by breaking his opponent in the seventh game of the third set and then holding serve twice to close it out in one hour and 49 minutes. Kecmanovic managed to save 10 of 13 break points during the match.
Sixth-seeded German Jan-Lennard Struff advanced with a 3-6, 7-6 (5), 6-4 victory over Kazakhstan’s Alexander Shevchenko, but the other two seeded players in action were eliminated. No. 7 Raphael Collignon of Belgium fell to Germany’s Daniel Altmaier, 6-3, 6-2, and No. 8 Argentine Juan Manuel Cerundolo was beaten convincingly by fellow Argentine Marco Trungelliti, 6-2, 6-1.
Additional results from Kitzbuhel included France’s Quentin Halys defeating Serbia’s Laslo Djere, 7-6 (4), 6-4; Switzerland’s Kilian Feldbausch eliminating Paraguay’s Adolfo Daniel Vallejo, 7-6 (2), 6-1; and Slovakia’s Alex Molcan edging Austria’s Sebastian Ofner, 6-4, 6-4.
