Cerúndolo took a 3-0 lead after just eight minutes, showing that he would be a tough opponent. However, after that, the match was completely even, and Matej lost his serve only once more, at 2-2 in the second set. His last chance to come back came when the Argentine was serving for the match at 5-4, as he started that game with a 0-30 lead. However, Cerúndolo won four consecutive points to secure victory in his debut appearance in Umag.
"There is a big difference in the quality of opponents compared to what I usually face on the Challenger Tour, and this is definitely a great motivation for me going forward. After that 0-3 start, I just wanted to win a service game, expecting that it would get easier later, and it did," said Dodig, adding, "I am extremely satisfied with the tournament, and I want to thank the director, Tomislav Poljak, for the opportunity."
This was Dodig's first appearance at an ATP tournament, and thanks to his first-round victory, he will climb more than twenty places from his current ranking of 310. On Monday, he will surpass his career-best ranking.
The second seed and one of the tournament favorites, Italian Lorenzo Musetti, did not start well against Argentine qualifier Marco Trungelliti, but he woke up in time and won 6-4, 6-3 to reach the quarterfinals. Trungelliti took a 3-0 lead, but he won only one of the next seven games and did not have a single break point for the rest of the match. Musetti is currently ranked 17th on the ATP list, and less than a month ago, he played in the Wimbledon semifinals and the Queen's final.
Musetti's quarterfinal opponent will be former Umag champion Dušan Lajović from Serbia, who defeated Italian Flavio Cobolli 7-6 (5), 7-6 (3). The ending of the second set was particularly tense, as Lajović led 5-2 and then 6-5 with his serve, but he only managed to break his opponent's resistance in the tie-break.
Another former Umag winner, Italian Fabio Fognini, was nowhere near success, as he managed to win just one game in his second-round match against Taiwan’s Chun-Hsin Tseng (6-1, 6-0). Tseng had lost in the final round of the qualifiers but entered the main draw as a "lucky loser" after Dane Holger Rune withdrew, taking his spot and earning a bye in the first round.
In the final match of the day, 18-year-old Czech Jakub Menšík once again showed why he is considered one of the biggest young talents in world tennis. Against Italy’s Luciano Darderi, he fell behind 1-3 but immediately responded and went on to win 6-4, 6-3. This is his third quarterfinal of the season, all achieved on different surfaces—hard court in Doha, grass in Mallorca, and now on clay.
"There is a big difference in the quality of opponents compared to what I usually face on the Challenger Tour, and this is definitely a great motivation for me going forward. After that 0-3 start, I just wanted to win a service game, expecting that it would get easier later, and it did," said Dodig, adding, "I am extremely satisfied with the tournament, and I want to thank the director, Tomislav Poljak, for the opportunity."
This was Dodig's first appearance at an ATP tournament, and thanks to his first-round victory, he will climb more than twenty places from his current ranking of 310. On Monday, he will surpass his career-best ranking.
The second seed and one of the tournament favorites, Italian Lorenzo Musetti, did not start well against Argentine qualifier Marco Trungelliti, but he woke up in time and won 6-4, 6-3 to reach the quarterfinals. Trungelliti took a 3-0 lead, but he won only one of the next seven games and did not have a single break point for the rest of the match. Musetti is currently ranked 17th on the ATP list, and less than a month ago, he played in the Wimbledon semifinals and the Queen's final.
Musetti's quarterfinal opponent will be former Umag champion Dušan Lajović from Serbia, who defeated Italian Flavio Cobolli 7-6 (5), 7-6 (3). The ending of the second set was particularly tense, as Lajović led 5-2 and then 6-5 with his serve, but he only managed to break his opponent's resistance in the tie-break.
Another former Umag winner, Italian Fabio Fognini, was nowhere near success, as he managed to win just one game in his second-round match against Taiwan’s Chun-Hsin Tseng (6-1, 6-0). Tseng had lost in the final round of the qualifiers but entered the main draw as a "lucky loser" after Dane Holger Rune withdrew, taking his spot and earning a bye in the first round.
In the final match of the day, 18-year-old Czech Jakub Menšík once again showed why he is considered one of the biggest young talents in world tennis. Against Italy’s Luciano Darderi, he fell behind 1-3 but immediately responded and went on to win 6-4, 6-3. This is his third quarterfinal of the season, all achieved on different surfaces—hard court in Doha, grass in Mallorca, and now on clay.
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