2018 Buenos Aires - ATP 250

[Otacon]

The Argentina Open, an ATP 250 tournament, will be played in Buenos Aires (Argentina) on outdoor red clay courts. Ukraine’s Alexandr Dolgopolov is the defending champion, but he has withdrawn. Dominic Thiem, Albert Ramos-Vinolas and Pablo Carreno-Busta lead the acceptance list.
Marin Cilic has pulled out from Buenos Aires with a hand injury.


ATP BUENOS AIRES (ARG, Red Clay Outdoor), entry list:
1 Thiem, Dominic AUT 5
OUT Cilic, Marin CRO 6
3 Carreno-Busta, Pablo ESP 10
4 Ramos-Vinolas, Albert ESP 23
5 Schwartzman, Diego ARG 26
6 Fognini, Fabio ITA 27
7 Cuevas, Pablo URU 32
8 Verdasco, Fernando ESP 35
OUT Dolgopolov, Alexandr UKR 82
10 Lorenzi, Paolo ITA 43
11 Monfils, Gael FRA 46
12 Bedene, Aljaz SLO 49
13 Edmund, Kyle GBR 50
14 Mayer, Leonardo ARG 52
15 Vesely, Jiri CZE 62
16 Haider-Maurer, Andreas AUT @63
17 Pella, Guido ARG 64
18 Zeballos, Horacio ARG 66
19 Delbonis, Federico ARG 68
20 [SE]
21 [SE]
22 WC Kicker, Nicolas ARG 93
23 [WC]
24 [WC]
25 [Q]
26 [Q]
27 [Q]
28 [Q]
Alternates:
IN Mayer, Florian GER 69
IN Garcia-Lopez, Guillermo ESP 70
1. Lajovic, Dusan SRB 75
OUT Stebe, Cedrik-Marcel @82
2. Kicker, Nicolas ARG 95
3. Sandgren, Tennys USA 96

ATP BUENOS AIRES (ARG), Qualifying:
1 Lajovic, Dusan SRB 75
OUT Kicker, Nicolas ARG 93
3 Sandgren, Tennys USA 97
4 Dutra-Silva, Rogerio BRA 98
5 Melzer, Gerald AUT 102
6 Cecchinato, Marco ITA 103
7 Andujar, Pablo ESP @105
8 Berlocq, Carlos ARG 108
9 Bellucci, Thomaz BRA 109
10 Carballes-Baena, Roberto ESP 110
11 Elias, Gastao POR 113
12 Monteiro, Thiago BRA 116
OUT Sousa, Pedro POR 124
14 Ruud, Casper NOR 138
15 [WC]
16 [WC]
Alternates:
IN Olivo, Renzo ARG 151
IN Moutet, Corentin FRA 155
1. Giannessi, Alessandro ITA 160
2. Robredo, Tommy ESP 163
3. Domingues, Joao POR 170

 

[stringertom]

The Argentina Open, an ATP 250 tournament, will be played in Buenos Aires (Argentina) on outdoor red clay courts. Ukraine’s Alexandr Dolgopolov is the defending champion, but he has withdrawn. Dominic Thiem, Albert Ramos-Vinolas and Pablo Carreno-Busta lead the acceptance list.
Marin Cilic has pulled out from Buenos Aires with a hand injury.


ATP BUENOS AIRES (ARG, Red Clay Outdoor), entry list:
1 Thiem, Dominic AUT 5
OUT Cilic, Marin CRO 6
3 Carreno-Busta, Pablo ESP 10
4 Ramos-Vinolas, Albert ESP 23
5 Schwartzman, Diego ARG 26
6 Fognini, Fabio ITA 27
7 Cuevas, Pablo URU 32
8 Verdasco, Fernando ESP 35
OUT Dolgopolov, Alexandr UKR 82
10 Lorenzi, Paolo ITA 43
11 Monfils, Gael FRA 46
12 Bedene, Aljaz SLO 49
13 Edmund, Kyle GBR 50
14 Mayer, Leonardo ARG 52
15 Vesely, Jiri CZE 62
16 Haider-Maurer, Andreas AUT @63
17 Pella, Guido ARG 64
18 Zeballos, Horacio ARG 66
19 Delbonis, Federico ARG 68
20 [SE]
21 [SE]
22 WC Kicker, Nicolas ARG 93
23 [WC]
24 [WC]
25 [Q]
26 [Q]
27 [Q]
28 [Q]
Alternates:
IN Mayer, Florian GER 69
IN Garcia-Lopez, Guillermo ESP 70
1. Lajovic, Dusan SRB 75
OUT Stebe, Cedrik-Marcel @82
2. Kicker, Nicolas ARG 95
3. Sandgren, Tennys USA 96

ATP BUENOS AIRES (ARG), Qualifying:
1 Lajovic, Dusan SRB 75
OUT Kicker, Nicolas ARG 93
3 Sandgren, Tennys USA 97
4 Dutra-Silva, Rogerio BRA 98
5 Melzer, Gerald AUT 102
6 Cecchinato, Marco ITA 103
7 Andujar, Pablo ESP @105
8 Berlocq, Carlos ARG 108
9 Bellucci, Thomaz BRA 109
10 Carballes-Baena, Roberto ESP 110
11 Elias, Gastao POR 113
12 Monteiro, Thiago BRA 116
OUT Sousa, Pedro POR 124
14 Ruud, Casper NOR 138
15 [WC]
16 [WC]
Alternates:
IN Olivo, Renzo ARG 151
IN Moutet, Corentin FRA 155
1. Giannessi, Alessandro ITA 160
2. Robredo, Tommy ESP 163
3. Domingues, Joao POR 170

Ruud would really benefit if he can gain one of those SE's by making Quito weekend.

 

[Otacon]

10 THINGS TO WATCH IN BUENOS AIRES
(1) Second Clay Court Stop: This is the second of five tournaments in the Latin America "Golden Swing". Over the past 10 years Spaniards have dominated the tournament by winning seven titles in a row from 2009-2015.

(2) Thiem Leads Field: Top seed Dominic Thiem, who returns to Buenos Aires for the second time in three years, is the lone former champion in the field. The Austrian star will receive a 1R bye along with Pablo Carreno Busta, Albert Ramos-Vinolas and Fabio Fognini.

(3) Thiem Top Seed: Thiem is trying to become the first top seed to win the Buenos Aires title since Rafael Nadal in 2015. Last season Thiem finished in the Top 10 for the second straight year at a personal-best No. 5, highlighted by his eighth career title in Rio. In his Argentina debut two years ago he beat Spaniards Nadal in the SFs and Almagro in the final, both in a third set tie-break.

(4) Carreno Busta Makes Turnaround: No. 2 seed Carreno Busta turned things around last year by reaching the semi-finals (l. to Dolgopolov) after going winless in his first three trips to Buenos Aires.

(5) Ramos-Vinolas in Final: No. 3 seed Ramos-Vinolas failed to break a three-match final losing streak on Sunday in the Quito title match. The Spaniard’s lone ATP World Tour title came in 2016 Bastad. He is 9-7 lifetime in Buenos Aires with three quarter-final appearances (2013-14, 2017).

(6) Fognini Back Again: No. 4 seed Fognini is making his 11th Buenos Aires appearance in 13 years, most of anyone in the field. The No. 1 Italian has a 9-10 record with his best showing a runner-up in 2014 (l. to Ferrer). He has lost his ast three opening round matches in Buenos Aires.

(7) Edmund Makes Debut: No. 6 seed Kyle Edmund makes his South American tournament debut. The British No. 2 is playing his first tournament since advancing to his first Grand Slam semi-final at the Australian Open (d. No. 3 Dimitrov, l. to Cilic) last month.

(8) Eight in a Row: The trio of Spaniard Ramos-Vinolas and Argentines Federico Delbonis and Leonardo Mayer are all making their eighth straight main draw appearance. Ramos-Vinolas is a three-time quarter-finalist and Delbonis a two-time QF. Mayer has reached the 2R six times.

(9) Wild Cards: Argentines Carlos Berlocq, Nicolas Kicker and Pedro Cachin are the wild cards. Berlocq is 10-9 in Buenos Aires while Kicker and Cachin are making their main draw debut. There are eight Argentines in the field, with two possible qualifiers. No. 5 seed Diego Schwartzman is the highest-ranked Argentine in the draw. The last Argentine champion on home soil was David Nalbandian in 2008.

(10) Doubles Draw: The top seeds are reigning two-time champs Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah, who were Australian Open finalists. The No. 2 seeds are Santiago Gonzalez and Julio Peralta, the No. 3 seeds are Nikola Mektic and Alexander Peya and No. 4 are Argentines Andres Molteni and Horacio Zeballos.

 

[albertobra]

Well a decent field, and hope Schwartzman takes it.

 

[stringertom]

10 THINGS TO WATCH IN BUENOS AIRES
(1) Second Clay Court Stop: This is the second of five tournaments in the Latin America "Golden Swing". Over the past 10 years Spaniards have dominated the tournament by winning seven titles in a row from 2009-2015.

(2) Thiem Leads Field: Top seed Dominic Thiem, who returns to Buenos Aires for the second time in three years, is the lone former champion in the field. The Austrian star will receive a 1R bye along with Pablo Carreno Busta, Albert Ramos-Vinolas and Fabio Fognini.

(3) Thiem Top Seed: Thiem is trying to become the first top seed to win the Buenos Aires title since Rafael Nadal in 2015. Last season Thiem finished in the Top 10 for the second straight year at a personal-best No. 5, highlighted by his eighth career title in Rio. In his Argentina debut two years ago he beat Spaniards Nadal in the SFs and Almagro in the final, both in a third set tie-break.

(4) Carreno Busta Makes Turnaround: No. 2 seed Carreno Busta turned things around last year by reaching the semi-finals (l. to Dolgopolov) after going winless in his first three trips to Buenos Aires.

(5) Ramos-Vinolas in Final: No. 3 seed Ramos-Vinolas failed to break a three-match final losing streak on Sunday in the Quito title match. The Spaniard’s lone ATP World Tour title came in 2016 Bastad. He is 9-7 lifetime in Buenos Aires with three quarter-final appearances (2013-14, 2017).

(6) Fognini Back Again: No. 4 seed Fognini is making his 11th Buenos Aires appearance in 13 years, most of anyone in the field. The No. 1 Italian has a 9-10 record with his best showing a runner-up in 2014 (l. to Ferrer). He has lost his ast three opening round matches in Buenos Aires.

(7) Edmund Makes Debut: No. 6 seed Kyle Edmund makes his South American tournament debut. The British No. 2 is playing his first tournament since advancing to his first Grand Slam semi-final at the Australian Open (d. No. 3 Dimitrov, l. to Cilic) last month.

(8) Eight in a Row: The trio of Spaniard Ramos-Vinolas and Argentines Federico Delbonis and Leonardo Mayer are all making their eighth straight main draw appearance. Ramos-Vinolas is a three-time quarter-finalist and Delbonis a two-time QF. Mayer has reached the 2R six times.

(9) Wild Cards: Argentines Carlos Berlocq, Nicolas Kicker and Pedro Cachin are the wild cards. Berlocq is 10-9 in Buenos Aires while Kicker and Cachin are making their main draw debut. There are eight Argentines in the field, with two possible qualifiers. No. 5 seed Diego Schwartzman is the highest-ranked Argentine in the draw. The last Argentine champion on home soil was David Nalbandian in 2008.

(10) Doubles Draw: The top seeds are reigning two-time champs Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah, who were Australian Open finalists. The No. 2 seeds are Santiago Gonzalez and Julio Peralta, the No. 3 seeds are Nikola Mektic and Alexander Peya and No. 4 are Argentines Andres Molteni and Horacio Zeballos.

#7: Edmund won a $50K Challenger title right there in BA during the autumn (Argentine spring) of 2015. He beat Zeballos and Berlocq in straight sets with a bagel in both SF and F matches.

Edmund was spurred to play this event and the following week in Montevideo as preparation for the DC final later in November, hosted by Belgium on indoor red clay. DC Brit coach Leon Smith's suggestion nearly paid off as Edmund stormed to a two-set lead over heavily favored Goffin in the opening rubber of the Final tie before fading badly in the five-set loss. It was all left to Murray to seal the deal, which he did by sweeping his singles matches and dubs with his older brother Jamie. Edmund's rubber vs Bemelmans became a dead rubber, not even contested after the wild celebration of the end of the 79-year DC drought for the U.K.

 

[Red Rick]

I want a Schwartzman-Thiem final. Would be juicy

 

[norcal]

Diego looks like he was on the wrong side of a straight right.

Nice shiner, Diego!

 

[stringertom]

All but Gurufils and Zeballos have gone down hard from the elevation drop from Quito to BA...Ruud failed to qualify; Champion RCB out 1R, finalist ARV out 2R after 1R bye, SF Monteiro out 1R. Very hard adjustment.

 

[Silence]

Diego looks like he was on the wrong side of a straight right.

Nice shiner, Diego!

Who would dare pick a fight with him towering at 170cm??

 

[stringertom]

Who would dare pick a fight with him towering at 170cm??

Rob Porter is currently unemployed but he prefers hitting women.

 

[Silence]

Rob Porter is currently unemployed but he prefers hitting women.

«the Feds put a wig on Diego to lure Mr. Porter into hitting him!»

 

[Meles]

Diego looks like he was on the wrong side of a straight right.

Nice shiner, Diego!

 

[albertobra]

What happened to Diego's eye? Did he have a fight with his girlfriend?

 

[albertobra]

I had forgotten on how Argentinian crowd can get 'footballishly'.

 

[EloQuent]

I had forgotten on how Argentinian crowd can get 'footballishly'.

I love rowdy/patriotic fans

 

[Meles]

What happened to Diego's eye? Did he have a fight with his girlfriend?

Thiem kneed him in the eye as the gif above shows.

 

[Meles]

Looks like Zeballos v. Thiem stream is nearly impossible. @Aussie Darcy does bet365 really have this one? Thought about registering, but they don't take from US addresses so I'd need a fake address and maybe use gift card to fund. Then use VPN service for said country.

 

[Meles]

 

[Meles]

 

[Meles]

 

[Meles]

Love the color of these courts:

 

[EloQuent]

Love the color of these courts:

is it a different material or just the lighting?

 

[Meles]

is it a different material or just the lighting?

Different crushed brick. Too expensive to import from France. Rio and Buenos Aires really fun to watch with the beautiful clay. I just got 65" OLED and its just so nice. NY Open charcoal court does not lookreally any better with great picture quality.

Let me find a more iridescent photo. (Also Acapulco on hard courts, but beautiful colors in stadium with court):

Come to think of it really only Buenos Aires has this look.

 

[Aussie Darcy]

Looks like Zeballos v. Thiem stream is nearly impossible. @Aussie Darcy does bet365 really have this one? Thought about registering, but they don't take from US addresses so I'd need a fake address and maybe use gift card to fund. Then use VPN service for said country.

Not sure if they've got Buenos Aires but they have New York so I assume they'd have it but yeah not sure ATM.

 

[Meles]

Not sure if they've got Buenos Aires but they have New York so I assume they'd have it but yeah not sure ATM.

Thanks. I'll bug you again another day with another live example; frankly I think I'll go through everything and won't see any matches I wouldn't have seen otherwise.

 

[norcal]

Thanks for the clarification, I thought maybe he had mouthed off one too many times to cousin Dora.

 

[Meles]

@EloQuent look at that orange clay. Monfils on court and it just looks amazing compared to drab NY Open.

 

[Sudacafan]

Come on. Look at this picture. Schwartzman does not reach 5’7”, as he is listed.

 

[Sudacafan]

Different crushed brick. Too expensive to import from France. Rio and Buenos Aires really fun to watch with the beautiful clay. I just got 65" OLED and its just so nice. NY Open charcoal court does not lookreally any better with great picture quality.

Let me find a more iridescent photo. (Also Acapulco on hard courts, but beautiful colors in stadium with court):

Come to think of it really only Buenos Aires has this look.

This is the real South American clay color. Orange clay more than red clay.

 

[Meles]

Come on. Look at this picture. Schwartzman does not reach 5’7”, as he is listed.

PCB looks taller than Gael so definitely some optical illusions happening.

 

[Meles]

This is the real South American clay color. Orange clay more than red clay.

I just love looking at with my new OLED TV with some really boss picture settings. Some day in the future we'll have Buenos Aires in Dolby Vision with an explosion of colors. Maybe a taste of Wimby this year on BBC in HLG.

 

[Sudacafan]

PCB looks taller than Gael so definitely some optical illusions happening.

PCB is closer to the camera, that explains it.

 

[Gary Duane]

I just love looking at with my new OLED TV with some really boss picture settings. Some day in the future we'll have Buenos Aires in Dolby Vision with an explosion of colors. Maybe a taste of Wimby this year on BBC in HLG.

I'm not impressed. I want holographic TV, where I can walk around and view anything from any angle.

 

[Ray Mercer]

It’s amazing that someone like Thiem would play this tournament. Two of the biggest hardcourt tournaments in the world are coming up and you’re playing on clay out of season.

 

[diegaa]

Love the color of these courts:

that's not the argopen stadium (lawn tennis club). Perhaps rio or acapulco? or even quito

 

[Red Rick]

It’s amazing that someone like Thiem would play this tournament. Two of the biggest hardcourt tournaments in the world are coming up and you’re playing on clay out of season.

It's not that bad. Defending Rio should give confidence and at least you're getting a good number of matches in without insane amounts of travel

I think Thiems schedule is pretty good so far this year

 

[acintya]

Bedene won the first set against Diego. Good one!

 

[acintya]

LOOOL what an awful stream:

http://live.livewidget.net/streamvi...ene-atp-buenos-aires-live-stream-4591562.html

long time since i saw such bad quality stream

 

[stringertom]

Bedene destroys the possible all-Argie Bargy SFs by punching out Dark Helmet:

 

[Red Rick]

Monfils wins.

Man, it's great to see him back on court, enjoying himself, and occasionally goofing around.

 

[Meles]

Well Thiem just blew BPs at 15-40 and was up a break earlier in the set. TB first set

 

[jaggy]

Bedene thriving now he stopped repping Blighty

 

[Meles]

Wow. An infuriating breaker at first with Thiem going for some overhitting like on hard courts of late. Thiem clawed his way back from Pella serving at 6-4 to take the breaker 9-7 with nice drop shot exchange. Thiem playing Ok for just 2nd match of clay season. Dom's flunking the Pella test as he should be much improved since their last encounter where a red hot, but tiring Thiem lost to Pella in SF (3 sets) at Rio in 2016. Pella coming into clay season in strong form, but not as improved since their last clay encounter.

 

[Meles]

Bedene thriving now he stopped repping Blighty

He broke Diego at love and won match with nice winner. Not the most amazing thing given Diego's serve, but another Brit (former now) doing well on red clay. Edmund.... a wonder why LL came in for him.

 

[Meles]

Lol. Thiem warmed up now and Pella apparently already worn out against the new Thiem. Thiem up two breaks 3-0. Where is @Poisoned Slice ?

 

[Meles]

Thiem wins with a bit of style, pounds great backhand down the line for 7-6, 6-4 to cap a great rally. Crowd was almost ready to go soccer chants on Thiem when Pella was trying to come back from 3-0 down. Thiem's form building.

Amazing; thought Schwartzman and Thiem got knocked out first round in doubles, but they are in SFs with good draw. Monfils of course next for Thiem.

 

[I Am Finnish]

Trolfils

 

[jaggy]

Nice clown point above but he took a beating today

 

[acintya]

Cant wait for the final and glad Bedene returned back to Slovenia. Now we have at least one player that we can see regularly on the big tournaments. At least in R1,R2,R3

 

[jaggy]

I am happy for Bedene, seems a good guy.