2 months ago

Bratislava Open: Home players pleased the crowd, Shevchenko comfortably advances to the round of 16

The opening round of the Bratislava Challenger tournament brought joy especially to Slovak fans on Tuesday. Andrej Martin and Lukáš Pokorný secured their places in the round of 16, handling their matches successfully and keeping home representation alive in the competition.

Andrej Martin showed great resilience against Portugal’s Pereira. After losing the first set 5–7, he managed to turn the match around and won 5–7, 6–3, 6–4. An even more convincing performance was delivered by Lukáš Pokorný, who, as a wildcard entrant, dominated Alex Barrena and won 6–1, 6–4.

Top seed Aleksandr Shevchenko confirmed his favorite status against Filip Jianu, leading 6–4, 3–0 before his opponent retired. Sixth seed Zdeněk Kolář also progressed comfortably after defeating Jason Jung 6–3, 6–1.

Japanese player Taro Daniel also advanced without major difficulties, beating Timofey Skatov 6–3, 6–3. Eighth seed Chun-Hsin Tseng had to handle a tight first-set tiebreak against Dimitar Kuzmanov, but after winning it, he dominated the rest of the match to prevail 7–6(8), 6–1.

One of the most exciting matches of the day was the clash between qualifiers Hynek Bartoň and Buvaysar Gadamauri. Bartoň came back after losing the first set to win 4–6, 7–6(2), 6–1.

Czech talent Petr Brunclík delivered an impressive performance as well, defeating Abdullah Shelbayh 7–6(2), 6–2. Another Czech player, Maxim Mrva, also advanced after beating Martin Krumich 7–6(3), 6–4.

The closest match of the day belonged to seventh seed Piros, who overcame Santillan 7–6(5), 7–5.

In doubles, the Czech pair Zdeněk Kolář – David Poljak were eliminated after losing to Iñigo Cervantes – Denys Molchanov 4–6, 2–6.

The third day of play brought several strong performances from Slovak players and confirmed the strength of the seeded names, who mostly lived up to expectations. The round of 16 promises more exciting tennis encounters.

2 months ago