Just because the Australian Open is over, that does not mean that the ATP World Tour takes a break. Tour action continues this week on the clay courts of Quito, Ecuador at the Ecuador Open. The seeds got their title bids underway on Tuesday. Let’s take a look back at today’s results in South America.
Results
The first set of seeds got their campaigns started on Tuesday, led by fifth seed and defending champion Victor Estrella Burgos. Last year, Estrella Burgos became the oldest first-time winner in the Open Era, and the veteran from the Dominican Republic got off to a strong start in his first ever title defense, beating Guido Pella 6-4, 6-4. The defending champion served well, limiting his opponent to only two break points, both of which he saved. He also won sixty percent of Pella second serve points, claiming victory in an hour and sixteen minutes.
Sixth seed Paolo Lorenzi put on a returning clinic in his opening round match, dominating local wildcard Gonzalo Escobar 6-1, 6-2. The scoreline is slightly deceptive, as this match saw some long rallies, and actually lasted slightly over an hour and a half. Still, Lorenzi saved all eight break points he faced and converted four of his own out of ten opportunities. The Italian won just under fifty percent of his return points.
Albert Ramos-Vinolas, the seventh seed, survived a serving battle with Serbian Dusan Lajovic. There was only one break point in the entire match, coming against Lajovic’s serve. Ramos-Vinolas converted that break point and took advantage to win the opening set. There were no more break opportunities for either player for the remainder of the match, and the Spaniard claimed the 6-4, 7-6(7) victory in a second set tiebreak. Lajovic won ninety percent of his first serve points, but was limited to forty-six percent of his second serve points. The Serbian got nothing going on Ramos-Vinolas’ serve. The Spaniard only lost nine points on serve in the entire match.
The sweep for the seeds was completed by eighth seed Pablo Carreno Busta, who took less than an hour to power past Rogerio Dutra Silva 6-3, 6-1. Carreno Busta won fifty percent of his return points, while saving the lone break point that he faced for the straight sets victory. He only dropped four points on his first serve and ten points total on serve in the match, while breaking his Brazilian opponent four times.
In other action, there were split fates for the Americans, as Austin Krajicek was defeated while Rajeev Ram advanced, both in straight sets. Three other Spaniards advanced to make it five advancing to the second round. Roberto Carballes Baena, Inigo Cervantes, and Albert Montanes joined Ramos-Vinolas and Carreno Busta as victors on Tuesday. The disappointing day for the local fans continued when, along with Escobar, the other Ecuadorian wildcard Giovanni Lapentti was defeated in the first round.
The second round will get underway tomorrow with two of the top four seeds in action, led by top seed Bernard Tomic and third seed Tomaz Belluci.