Almaty, a strong start: top players shine to the applause of the crowd

Nearly two hours of high-level play produced one of the most exciting matches of the first round. Day 1 of the FIP Gold in Almaty, Kazakhstan, featured a standout contest between José Diestro and Maxi Sanchez Blasco against Adrian Ronco and Julian Lacamoire. The match began well for the number 4 seeds with a 6-4 first set, before Ronco and Lacamoire fought back to take the second set 7-5. The decisive moment came in the third set, with a break in the seventh game that secured the win for Diestro and Sanchez Blasco (6-4).

 

The opening day of the main draw concluded smoothly for the top seeds, greeted with applause from the spectators: Martin Di Nenno and Momo Gonzalez (1) claimed a 6-2 6-2 victory over Gonzalez/Karpushkin, while Javi Leal and Pablo Lijó (2) dropped only two games against Melero/Gojayev (6-0 6-2). Alex Arroyo and Pablo Garcia also recorded a 6-1 6-1 win over Olivera/Gokhan, as did Curro Cabeza and Mariano Gonzalez against Muzdybayev/Brek (6-1 6-1). The day’s surprise came from Cristian Gutierrez and Artem Matus, who overcame Anton Sans and Gustavo Nunes (7) in straight sets (6-4 7-6).

 

WOMEN’S DRAW The debut round went smoothly for the leading women’s pairs, with wins including Victoria Iglesias/Aranzazu Osoro (6-1 6-2 over Terranova/Neizvestnaya), Lucia Sainz/Ana Nogueira (6-0 6-1 against Giorgadze/Daudova), and Jessica Castelló/Lorena Rufo (6-1 6-1 over Danko/Gulnova). Friday promises another busy day: the women’s round of 16 begins at 10:00 local time (7:00 CET), while the men return to court no earlier than 12:30. In the afternoon, the quarter-finals start at 16:00 (13:00 CET) for the women, and no earlier than 18:00 for the men.