In his final tour level match on clay, three-time Grand Slam champion Stan Wawrinka dropped a grueling 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 decision to Argentina’s Roman Andres Burruchaga on Tuesday in the first round of the Estoril Open in Portugal.
The 41-year old Swiss native, who will retire at the end of this season, saved 10-of-17 break points and three match points against, but finally succumbed on the 10th point of his final service game. Burruchaga broke Wawrinka, who won this tournament in 2013, on three occasions in the deciding set.
Two of three seeded players earned victories as fifth-seeded Nuno Borges of Portugal knocked off Brazilian qualifier Orlando Luz, 6-3, 6-3 and No. 8 Pablo Carreno Busta of Spain trounced Lithuania’s Vilius Gaubas, 6-1-6-3. However, sixth-seed Botic van de Zandschulp of the Netherlands fell to Portugal’s Jamie Faria, 6-3, 6-4.
In other matches, Peruvian qualifier Gonzalo Bueno ousted Portugese wild-card entry Tiago Periera, 6-3, 1-6, 7-6 (5); Kazakhstan’s Timofey Skatov edged Dutchman Jesper de Jong, 1-6, 6-4, 6-3; France’s lucky-loser Kyrian Jacquet got past Spain’s Daniel Merida Aguilar, 1-6, 6-1, 7-5 and Frenchman Hugo Gaston advanced past Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Damir Dzumhur, 5-0, retired.
Generali Open
In a battle of two former champions at the Kitzbuhel, Austria event, Argentina’s Sebastian Baez edged Serbia’s Miomir Kecmanovic, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 in first-round action.
Baez, who won the event in 2023, broke the 2020 champion in the seventh game of the deciding set and held serve twice to prevail in one hour, 49 minutes. Kecmanovic saved 10 of 13 break points in the match.
Sixth-seeded German Jan-Lennard Struff got past Kazakhstan’s Alexander Svevchenko, 3-6, 7-6 (5), 6-4, but the other two seeded players in action fell. No. 7 Raphael Collignon of Belgium dropped a 6-3, 6-2 decision to Germany’s Daniel Altmaier and No. 8 Argentine Juan Manuel Cerundolo was thrashed by countryman Marco Trungelliti, 6-2, 6-1.
In other matches, France’s Quentin Halys defeated Serbia’s Laslo Djere, 7-6 (4), 6-4; Switzerland;’s Kilian Feldbausch eliminated Paraguay’s Adolfo Daniel Vallejo, 7-6 (2), 6-1 and Slovakia’s Alex Molcan edged Austria’s Sebastian Ofner, 6-4, 6-4.
–Field Level Media
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