Impressive victory achieved by Filip Cristian Jianu, in the first round of the ATP Challenger 100 tournament in Iași, "Concord Iași Open" 2020, this being the only victory in the four matches played on the grounds of the Sports Base Ciric in which Romanians were involved.

Our compatriot received a Wild Card from the organizers and duly honored this decision, managing to control the match and defeat with 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 the much more experienced Russian player Teymuraz Gabashvili, former player of Top 50 ATP.

Immediately after the match won by Filip Jianu, Marius Copil entered the Field 1 for his match in the first round of the singles.

Unfortunately, it was a very difficult match for Marius, our compatriot being eliminated after a match of three sets and almost two hours of play. The favorite 8 of the ATP Challenger 100 tournament "Concord Iași Open" was defeated 5-7, 6-3, 6-3, by the Chilean Marcelo Tomas Barrios Vera, much better prepared from a physical point of view. "I played very little lately, then I came back on the field and I got injured again, which meant another month of break, so for about three weeks I managed to train normally, but today that was not enough”, Marius explained the failure in the first round of the singles, and he declared himself more optimistic about the second match he had to play today, but in the doubles tournament.

Unfortunately for us, Marius and his teammate, Nicholas David Ionel, did not manage to pass this first round, although they made an almost perfect first set against a pair from Brazil, Rafael Matos / Joao Menezes. Marius and Nicholas won the first set spectacularly, with a definite 6-1, but the Brazilians returned to the game after winning the second set 6-3. In the tie-break match, Matos and Menezes were stronger and won 10-7 to secure a place in the second round.

Difficult match for Florin Mergea, also in the first round of the doubles event at "Concord Iasi Open", ATP Challenger 100 tournament. Our compatriot, who is paired with the German Andre Begemann, was eliminated, the two being defeated 6-1 , 7-5, by Robert Galloway (USA) / Hans Hach Verdugo (MEX).

Finally, in the other matches played on Tuesday, all from the singles tournament at "Concord Iași Open" 2020, the following results were recorded:

[1] P. Andujar (ESP) - A. Muller (FRA) 6-4, 6-0;

[3] A. Rinderknech (FRA) - M. Huesler (SUI) 6-3, 6-4;

[5] C. Taberner (ESP) - N. Kuhn (ESP) 6-3, 6-2;

[Q] F. Meligeni Rodrigues Alves (BRA) - [6] E. Couacaud (FRA) 1-6, 6-2, 6-3;

M. Jaziri (TUN) - C. Ilkel (TUR) 6-2, 6-4;

F. Cerundolo (ARG) - [PR] A. De Greef (BEL) 6-1, 6-4;

[Q] T. Etcheverry (ARG) - Q. Halys (FRA) 4-6, 6-2, 6-3;

A. Menendez-Maceiras (ESP) - E. Karlovskiy (RUS) 6-3, 3-6, 6-2.

SCHEDULE FOR WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16

Field 1, 10 AM

[WC] Cezar Creţu (ROU) vs [2] J. Munar (ESP)

Not before 12 PM
[7] J. Menezes (BRA) vs [WC] F. Jianu (ROU)

[1] L. Bambridge (GBR) / B. McLachlan (JPN) vs [PR] A. De Greef (BEL) / Q. Halys (FRA)

[WC] C. Cretu (ROU) / F. Jianu (ROU) vs E. Couacaud (FRA) / F. Romboli (BRA)

Field 2, 10 AM

A. Goransson (SWE) / A. Rinderknech (FRA) vs [WC] V. Cornea (ROU) / A. Jecan (ROU)

M. Bourgue (FRA) vs M. Barrios Vera (CHI)

A. Lawson (USA) / H. Reese (USA) vs C. Ilkel (TUR) / E. Karlovskiy (RUS)

Field 5, 10 AM

[4] J. Rodionov (AUT) vs [Q] T. Etcheverry (ARG)

T. Gabashvili (RUS) / A. Menendez-Maceiras (ESP) vs [2] L. Martinez (VEN) / M. Reyes-Varela (MEX)

[3] T. Huey (PHI) / N. Lammons (USA) vs F. Meligeni Rodrigues Alves (BRA) / P. Polansky (CAN)

"Concord Iași Open", ATP Challenger 100 Category tournament, endowed with total prizes worth 88,520 euros, enjoys the support of the City Hall of Iași and appreciates the interest shown by private companies in Romania: Concord Service Center, Nera Computers, Certus Software, Coriolan Aur Smarald, Albrau Prod, Unirea Hotel Complex, Texdata, Fiterman Pharma and Lenovo.

PHOTO: Cristina HUȚU