Franko Škugor missed his big chance to go into the main draw of Plava Laguna Croatia Open Umag. In the last round of qualifiers, the Šibenik native squandered a number of opportunities against the Frenchman Kenny de Schepper, going from being up 6:1 and 3:0 in the second set and serving for 5:2, through his 4:2 lead in the third set, to having four match points in the deciding tie break, with three of them consecutive ones (6:3; 7:6). None of that, however, was enough for Škugor and after a marathon match lasting two hours and 41 minutes, the 30-year-old Frenchmen went through to the main tournament with the final result 1:6, 7:6 (2), 7:6 (7).
Ivan Dodig is back to winning on the ATP Tour. In the singles competition, that is. The Croatian doubles specialist made sure this year’s Plava Laguna Croatia Open Umag had a refreshing prologue by beating Marius Copil in the first round of the main draw. It was his first win after a 13-month stint and seven consecutive losses in a tournament’s main draw, plus many more in the qualifiers. At one point, Ivan Dodig had to have asked himself if competing in the singles matches were still worth it.
“I am pleased and I would first like to thank tournament director Lawrence for giving me an opportunity to play here on an invitation as my ranking would not have allowed it. It was fun playing out there and I’m glad I was able to prove that I can still play at a high level”, Dodig said after winning the match 6:4, 7:6 (4).
