Two-time Argentina Open quarter-finalist Federico Delbonis broke five times to advance to the second round in Buenos Aires on Monday. The 27-year-old left-hander, making his eighth appearance at the Argentina Open, beat Germany's Florian Mayer 7-6(4), 6-4. [ALSO LIKE] Delbonis will next meet Portugal's Gastao Elias or Spaniard Roberto Carballes Baena, who won his maiden ATP World Tour title at the Ecuador Open in Quito on Sunday. In other action, Delbonis' countryman Guido Pella also moved into the second round, beating countryman Nicolas Kicker 2-6, 6-4, 6-4. Serbia's Dusan Lajovic knocked out Argentine qualifier Facundo Bagnis 7-6(4), 6-1; Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez swept wild card Carlos Berlocq of Argentina 6-3, 6-3; and Brazilian qualifier Thomaz Bellucci dropped only three games against...
Before their first matches at the 2018 Argentina Open, Dominic Thiem, Diego Schwartzman, Robert Farah and Juan Sebastian Cabal visited the district of La Boca to watch 32-time national league football champions Boca Juniors. The quartet, who interestingly could meet in the semi-finals of the doubles event, watched Boca Juniors defeat Temperley 1-0 and played a potential semi-final preview, in foot-tennis form, in front of a huge crowd. Thiem and Boca Juniors fan Schwartzman, who will compete together in doubles alongside their singles campaigns, did not get their partnership off to the best of starts, as a lack of communication during their foot-tennis exhibition led to an unfortunate facial injury for the Argentine. "[Our friendship] started years ago and it...
The first ATP World Tour 500 tournament of the 2018 season gets underway this week in Rotterdam, where Roger Federer steps out for the first time since winning the Australian Open. The Swiss legend will reclaim the No. 1 ATP Ranking for the first time in more than five years if he reaches the semi-finals. As 'Frantic February' enters its second week, we'll also see two 250 tournaments in Buenos Aires and New York. 10 THINGS TO WATCH IN ROTTERDAM (1) First 500 of Season: This is the first of 13 ATP World Tour 500 tournaments of the season. The 45th anniversary of the popular Dutch indoor tournament features seven of the Top 20 in the ATP Rankings, led by...
High-quality tennis was on display throughout the week at the Copa San Cristobal in Buenos Aires, with six of the eight seeds reaching the quarter-finals. While the $50,000 ATP Challenger Tour event is set to culminate on Sunday with an all-Argentine affair - top seed Horacio Zeballos battling third seed Nicolas Kicker - the action off the court was just as entertaining. Challenger stars traded their racquets for paintbrushes during the player party, joining renowned artist Milo Lockett to support Foundation Red en Juego. Zeballos, Kicker, Federico Delbonis, Federico Coria, Maximo Gonzalez and Carlos Berlocq attended the fundraising event. "We did something new in tennis during the inaugural tournament party," said Zeballos. "There was an important artist Milo Lockett and we...