Andreas Seppi: Only Seed To Win Bucharest First Round

By Lauren Lynch               Photo Credit: Daniel Huerlimann/ Beelde

(September 20, 2011) After fifth-seeded Tommy Robredo and eighth-seeded Albert Montanes fell, Andreas Seppi, the seventh seed, was the only player to surpass the first round in Bucharest at the BRD Nastase Tiriac Trophy as the top-four seeds received byes.

On Tuesday, the Italian defeated Eric Prodon of France 6-1, 4-6, 6-1 in an 102-minute match and saved 10 of 12 break-point opportunities while converting six for himself.

Spanish Montanes was upset by the World No. 183, Alessandro Gianessi of Italy, 7-5, 6-4. He struggled with his serve and failed to defend it five times.

This marks Giannessi’s first ATP World Tour tournament and win. The qualifier will face another experienced player, Frederico Gil, in the following round.

Other under-dog winners of the day included qualifier Florent Serra, wildcards Marius Copil and Adrian Ungur, who are Romanian natives. Meanwhile, Filipo Volandri, Albert Ramos, and Carlos Berlocq found themselves comfortably in the second round with quick two-set wins.

Russian Igor Andreev had a scare from German-qualifier Peter Torebko, who pushed him to three sets that lasted more than two hour and a half.

Torebko, 313 in the world, was served out 12 aces and broke the 99th ranked player five times. Eventually, the Russians experience pulled him through to win the last two sets at 5-7, 6-4, 7-5 winning only two more total points at 102 out of 202.

With the exception of the top 10, do you think that the men's field is wide open?