TENNIS ECUADOR OPEN – At the inaugural edition of the Quito ATP 250 tournament, the two biggest names in the draw, Feliciano Lopez and Fernando Verdasco, advance to the quarter finals. By Bruno Bergareche Sans
Two of the biggest names at the inaugural Ecuador Open got their campaigns up and running today with straightforward wins. 33 year-old Feliciano Lopez is the top seed this week in Quito and the Spaniard, who is enjoying something of a second youth, had no trouble in adjusting to the clay courts in the city that lies 2,800 metres above sea level, dispatching Colombian Alejandro Gonzalez 7/5 6/2. At an all-time high ranking of 14, the big serving lefty next faces Dusan Lajovic who got the better of Chilean qualifier Nicolas Jarry 6/4 3/6 6/3, and if he goes the whole way this week in Ecuador he would leap frog Ernests Gulbis into 13th place in the rankings, something very few would have expected at this stage of his career.
The other big attraction in Quito (especially after Santi Giraldo’s surprising defeat to Albert Montañes in the second round) is Lopez’s good friend Fernando Verdasco. If Lopez is playing the tennis of his life, the same can’t be said about Verdasco, who has always struggled to fulfil his promise and after a bitterly disappointing 2014 has dropped to the thirties in the world ranking. The 31 year-old from Madrid hasn’t had the worst of starts to 2015, winning a match in Doha and reaching the third round of the Australian Open, and is now on his favourite surface where he looks to get some much needed ranking points in the bag in this Latin American swing. Verdasco got his swing off to a positive start with a solid win against the plucky Gerald Melzer. Jurgen’s younger player (also left-handed) was only playing in his third ATP main draw event in a year and, after getting through qualifying (including a brilliant win against Roberto Carballes), the feeling is he had accomplished his mission and left with his head held high after pushing Verdasco to a 7/6 6/4 scoreline.
Next up for Verdasco is Paolo Lorenzi who pulled off a convincing 7/5 6/1 win against Alejandro Falla, rounding off what was a disappointing day for South American tennis. The tennis continues tomorrow in Quito with the quarter final line-up being completed by Victor Estrella v Martin Klizan and Thomaz Bellucci v Albert Montañes.
