Former champion Tommy Robredo’s season debut is off to a flying start with the 34-year-old seeing off No. 7 seed Fabio Fognini in the first round of the Argentina Open on Tuesday. The Spaniard inched ahead in the pair’s FedEx Head2Head series 5-4 with the 6-4, 6-3 result.
Having undergone right elbow surgery last season, the former World No. 16 in the Emirates ATP Rankings arrived in Buenos Aires on a protected ranking of No. 57. But against Fognini, there were few signs of any rust.
He broke the Italian four times in the one-hour, 13-minute affair. He will next face either Victor Estrella Burgos or Thiago Monteiro.
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Robredo’s countryman, fifth seed Albert Ramos-Vinolas, had a far more difficult task reaching the second round. Ramos-Vinolas narrowly edged home hopeful Guido Pella 6-7(8), 6-4, 7-6(6).
In a clash of former Top 20 players, Ukraine’s Alexandr Dolgopolov had a convincing win over Serbian wild card Janko Tipsarevic 6-3, 6-3. The win books Dolgopolov a meeting with No. 2 seed Pablo Cuevas. The Ukrainian star leads their FedEx ATP H2H series 1-0, with the win coming on the clay of Buenos Aires in 2014.
Argentine wild card Carlos Berloq scored a 6-4, 6-4 result over Slovak qualifier Jozef Kovalik and was joined in the second round by countrymen Guido Andreozzi and Diego Schwartzman. Italian qualifier Alessandro Giannessi beat Brazil’s Rogerio Dutra Silva 5-7, 7-6(6), 6-4, saving a match point in the process.