The young Zagreb-born player participated in the draw ceremony, which means that, in a way, he gave himself one of the trickiest opponents he could have gotten.
- Yes, if I could have chosen the three players to avoid at the start of the tournament, Berlocq would definitely be one of them. I’ve never been too lucky, so there you go. What’s done is done. Usually, when I’m lucky with the draw, I make mistakes and lose, so this might be a good sign – Borna tried to cheer himself up.
So far, the Croat and the Argentinian have never played against each other; however, the 34-year-old veteran from Buenos Aires is well known to the spectators in Umag. He first came to Stella Maris back in 2006. and this will be his ninth appearance at the Croatian tournament. He achieved his best result here last year by reaching the semifinal.
If Ćorić goes through to the second round, he will play the winner of the match between last year’s Umag finalist Andrej Martin and Denis Istomin.
After a five-year absence, Ivan Dodig will once again play in the singles draw of the tournament in Umag after receiving an invitation from the organizer. The draw has given him Marius Copil as his first opponent. They never played each other on the ATP Tour but did meet twice on the Challenger Tour. It was in 2015. and, more importantly, the Croatian player won both times. Now, he has an opportunity to continue his winning streak against the Romanian tennis player. If he succeeds, his next opponent will be the winner of the match between Gilles Simon and Marco Cecchinato.
Another four Croatian players are playing in the qualifiers and might join Ćorić and Dodig in the main draw. On Sunday, Franko Škugor, Matija Pecotić, Rocco Savin and Nino Serdarušić will start the competition, which might take them into the main draw of the Plava Laguna Croatia Open Umag after two wins.
The tournament’s top seed is Belgium’s David Goffin, ranked 13th in the world. Together with the next three top-seeded players, Gaël Monfils (2), Fabio Fognini (3) and Paolo Lorenzi (4), he will be free in the first round.
The matches of the main draw will start on Monday, July 17, while the tournament will end on Sunday, July 23.
