The match between Argentina’s Guido Pella and Japan’s Taro Daniel kicked off the events on the first day of the 29th Plava Laguna Croatia Open at the Goran Ivanišević Stadium. The two did not disappoint as the match was exciting and filled with twists, serving as an introduction to what we can expect over the coming days.
The Japanese, who is also the first tennis player from Japan to play in Umag, started the match furiously, practically racing to 5:0, which his opponent simply could not catch up to. Then, in the second set, when Daniel broke Pella for the third time in a row, it seemed as if the Argentinian was on the brink of going out. However, instead of seeing another break and match point, we then witnessed Pella’s mighty return to the game and a complete turnover. Daniel saw no more break opportunities, and by the end of the last 12 games, nine went to the Argentinian. In the end, it was 1:6, 6:3, 6:3.
The 2014 Umag winner Pablo Cuevas said goodbye to this year’s edition of the tournament on the very first day. The Uruguayan fought a huge battle, which was even stopped for a short while because of the rain, but three sets (6:4, 1:6, 6:3) and two hours later it was Serbia’s Laslo Đere, currently at the lower end of the top 100 in the ATP Rankings, that celebrated going through to the next round. He will be playing against the winner of the match between Serdarušić and Marterer.
Martin Kližan, Stefano Travaglia, Marco Trungelliti and Rogerio Dutra Silva filled the empty places in the main draw by winning in the last qualification round, with Alexey Vatutin stepping in as the tournament’s lucky loser (as Kyle Edmund had to withdraw from the competition).
