It was the moment everyone had been waiting for weeks. It was a few minutes before six in the afternoon when the local idol Pablo Carreño jumped onto the red court of the Gijón Open – ATP 250, the new tournament in the city that saw him born.
The Palacio de Deportes La Guía has touched the full with 4,300 spectators to see in action the brand new champion of this year’s ATP Masters 1000 of Canada -his seventh title in the circuit- as well as Olympic medalist last 2021 in Tokyo.
“Playing at home has its good things, but it also has its slightly more complicated things” acknowledged the tournament’s No. 2 seed. “You look at the stands and you see familiar faces everywhere. It’s a little harder to concentrate, but I’ve had a good time.”
a dedicated audience
The man from Gijón highlighted that: “The harmony with the public has been very nice. There have been times when there was a lot of noise on the track. People were seen enjoying and also suffering a little.”
Carreño will unleash passions again in Gijón next Friday in his quarterfinal match against Arthur Rinderknech. The Frenchman won the Gallic duel of the day against Constant Lestienne 6-4 6-2 in the only singles match played on Court 1.
Thiem comeback
Another of the tournament’s favorites had many more problems in the last match played late in the evening. Dominic Thiem has not felt the same good sensations of his debut on Monday, but he has used his enormous class to come back against a feisty Marcos Giron 3-6 6-4 6-0.
Spanish tennis has fired two of its tricks this Wednesday. Jaume A. Munar has only been able to present opposition in the first set against Sebastian Korda, No. 47 in the ranking and one of the new standards of American tennis. The Balearic has yielded 6-4 6-1.
spanish farewells
In the other Spanish-American duel of the day, Nicolás Álvarez Varona had two balls to win the second round and equalize the match against an entire world Top-30 like Tommy Paul. The man from Burgos, who added his first ATP victory yesterday, ended up losing in the tie-break 6-3 7-6 (3).
The first round was completed this Wednesday with the victory of the Argentine Pedro Cachín over the Russian Alexey Vatutin. The South American will be Andy Murray’s next rival.
In doubles, the elimination of the first favorites stands out: the pair formed by the Spanish Marcel Granollers and the Argentine Horacio Zeballos.
Rublev and Bautista ask for passage
The quarterfinals of the Gijón Open – ATP 250 will be completed this Thursday in a day in which three of the top four seeded players of the tournament will enter the competition: Andrey Rublev, Roberto Bautista and Francisco Cerúndolo.
The No. 1 of the tournament, Andrey Rublev, will open his participation against a player he knows very well: Ilya Ivashka. Russian and Belarusian are good friends and know each other perfectly, although they have only met twice, always with the former winning.
The 24-year-old Muscovite arrives in Gijón in the world Top-10 (No. 9) and with three titles won this year (Belgrade, Dubai and Marseille). A recent quarterfinalist at the US Open, last week he narrowly missed the final of the ATP 500 in Astana.
The match will start no earlier than 4:00 p.m. on the Central Court of the Palacio de Deportes La Guía. And next, it will be the turn of the third favorite of the tournament: Roberto Bautista, who will debut against the American Sebastian Korda.
Cerúndolo, fourth favorite
The morning session will open at 12 noon with the entry into competition of the emerging Argentine player Francisco Cerúndolo, fourth favorite. His rival will be the only survivor of the previous phase: Frenchman Manuel Guinard.
The intense program of the day in Gijón will allow us to enjoy, once again, the talent of Andy Murray. After his brilliant debut yesterday, he will seek a place in the quarterfinals against the Argentine Pedro Cachín.
RESULTS – Wednesday, October 12
INDIVIDUAL – Second Round
[5] T. Paul (USA) to N. Álvarez Varona (ESP) 6-3 7-6(3)
D. Thiem (AUT) to M. Giron (USA) 3-6 6-4 6-0
A. Rinderknech (FRA) and C. Lestienne (FRA) 6-4 6-2
[2] P. Carreño (ESP) to T. Monteiro (BRA) 6-4 7-6(3)
SINGLES – First Round
P. Cachín (ARG) to A. Vatutin 7-6(2) 6-0
S. Korda (USA) defeated J. Munar (ESP) 6-4 6-1
DOUBLES – First Round
S. Gille (BEL) / F. Martin (FRA) a [1] M. Granollers (ESP) / H. Zeballos (ARG) 7-6(5) 6-4
[Alt] S. Arends (NED) / D. Pel (NED) to D. Hidalgo (ECU) / C. Rodríguez (COL) 6-1 6-2
[3] R. Matos (BRA) / D. Vega (ESP) to A. Davidovich (ESP) / M. Landaluce (ESP) 6-3 6-3
N. Cacic (SRB) / H. Nys (MON) defeated R. Klaasen (RSA) / M. Melo (BRA) 6-2 6-7(9) [16-14]
ORDER OF PLAY -Thursday, October 13
center track
12:00 pm
[4] F. Cerundolo (ARG) vs. M. Guinard (FRA)
A. Murray (GBR) vs P. Cachín (ARG)
Not before 4:00 p.m.
[1] A. Rublev vs I. Ivashka
S. Korda (USA) vs [3] R. Bautista (ESP)
lane 1
16:00 hours
M. González (ARG) / A. Molteni (ARG) vs [4] F. Cabral (POR) / J. Murray (GBR)
[3] R. Matos (BRA) / D. Vega (ESP) vs. N. Lammons (USA) / J. Withrow (USA)
Not before 4:30 p.m.
N. Cacic (SRB) / H. Nys (MON) vs [2] S. Bolelli (ITA) / F. Fognini (ITA)
