The AnyTech365 Andalucía Open was the stage chosen by two Grand Slam champions for their return to competition. Former world number 3's Dominic Thiem and Stan Wawrinka certified their recovery from various injuries on the Puente Romano clay, but lost their respective debut matches. The Austrian and number one top seed of the tournament lost against the Argentinean Pedro Cachin, while the Swiss lost against the Swedish Elias Ymer.
The Argentine Pedro Cachin imposed his game against a Thiem who will still need some time to recover his best version. The final result (6-3; 6-4) left the 2020 US Open Champion out of the fight for the final victory.
Meanwhile, the Swede Elias Ymer beat Stan Wawrinka. The winner of three "majors" had chosen the Andalusian clay for his return and alternated flashes of the class he possesses with more erratic moments, the result of the lack of competition rhythm.
The rain was also a protagonist and marked the start of the day where the 3rd top seed, the Spaniard Pablo Andujar managed to impose his tennis against the Italian Andrea Pellegrino in three sets and after a passage through the locker room motivated by inclement weather.
Like Andujar, four other favorites will reach the round of 16: Alex Molcan (2), Roberto Carballés (5), Jaume Munar (6) and Carlos Taberner (8). Other players who made it to this round were the Italian Federico Gaio, the Spaniards Bernabé Zapata Miralles and Nicolás Álvarez Varona, the Slovakian Norbert Gombos, as well as the Frenchman Manuel Guinard.
On the other hand, the doubles draw also started this Tuesday with victories of the 2nd and 3rd top seeds. The pair formed by the Monegasque Hugo Nys and the Polish Jan Zielinski, and the duo formed by the Finnish Harri Heliovaara and the American Nathaniel Lammons are in the quarterfinals.
In the women's draw, the top four seeds managed to defeat their rivals. Danka Kovinic, Varvara Gracheva, Mayar Sherif and Arantxa Rus imposed their game and continue to advance in the tournament. France's Clara Burel (5) and Italy's Martina Trevisan (7) also sealed their place in the round of 16, as did Ana Bogdan, Ocean Dodin, Tamara Korpatsch and Arantxa Rus.
The positive news for Spanish women's tennis came from the hands of Rebeka Masarova who beat Austrian Julia Grabher.
The AnyTech365 Andalucía Open 2022 will start the round of 16 matches on Wednesday, March 30. Spain's Pablo Andujar (3) and Montenegro's Danka Kovinic (1) will be the first favourites to reach the quarter-finals on centre court in the men's and women's draw respectively. Other outstanding racquets that will fight to move forward in the Marbella tournament will be Roberto Carballés (5), Arantxa Rus (4), Jiri Vesely (4), Panna Udvardy (6) and Martina Trevisan (7).
Men's Singles - First Round
ATP - [Alt] P. Cachin (ARG) d [1] [WC] D. Thiem (AUT) 63 64
ATP - [2] A. Molcan (SVK) d F. Agamenone (ITA) 63 76(3)
ATP - [3] P. Andujar (ESP) d A. Pellegrino (ITA) 61 46 62
ATP - [5] R. Carballes Baena (ESP) d N. Milojevic (SRB) 63 76(1)
ATP - [6] J. Munar (ESP) d [Q] A. Shevchenko 62 62
ATP - [8] C. Taberner (ESP) d [Q] C. Gomez-Herrera (ESP) 64 75
ATP - M. Guinard (FRA) d [Q] J. Barranco Cosano (ESP) 62 76(3)
ATP - E. Ymer (SWE) d [WC] S. Wawrinka (SUI) 62 64
ATP - F. Gaio (ITA) d [Q] P. Martin Tiffon (ESP) 61 10 Retired
ATP - N. Gombos (SVK) d [WC] C. Gimeno Valero (ESP) 64 61
ATP - [LL] N. Alvarez Varona (ESP) d [Q] L. Klein (SVK) 76(5) 64
ATP - B. Zapata Miralles (ESP) d [Q] R. Brancaccio (ITA) 63 64
Men's Doubles - First Round
ATP - [2] H. Nys (MON) / J. Zielinski (POL) d Y. Hanfmann (GER) / A. Menendez-Maceiras (ESP) 64 62
ATP - [3] H. Heliovaara (FIN) / N. Lammons (USA) d N. Gombos (SVK) / L. Klein (SVK) 76(4) 63
Women's Singles – First Round
WTA - A. Bogdan (ROU) d D. Vekic (CRO) 61 60
WTA – C. Burel (FRA) d A. Lázaro Garcia (ESP) 64 64
WTA - A. Rus (NED) d S. Errani (ITA) 46 76(4) 63
WTA - M. Trevisan (ITA) d K. Mladenovic (FRA) 76(5) 60
WTA - V. Gracheva d E. Gorgodze (GEO) 57 63 64
WTA - D. Kovinic (MNE) d M. Minella (LUX) 67(2) 62 75
WTA - [ALT] T. Korpatsch (GER) d L. Zhu (CHN) 61 76(5)
WTA – M. Sherif (EGY) d. A. Blinkova 63 64
WTA - R. Masarova (ESP) d J. Grabher (AUT) 64 26 63
WTA - O. Dodin (FRA) d L. Tsurenko (UKR) 64 76(5)