Belgrade, Day1. Nieto and Yanguas return with a win. Round of 16 on Thursday

Coki Nieto and Mike Yanguas had not played together since the end of last season. Their reunion got off to a winning start: in the first round of the FIP Gold Belgrade, the top seeds defeated Victor Tur Checa and Agustin Reca 6-1 6-0 and will face Spain’s Fran Ramirez and Poland’s Michal Skonieczny on Thursday. A strong debut, too, for Franco Stupaczuk and Jon Sanz, who beat Luque/Vazquez 6-3 6-2. The second seeds will take on Portugal’s Gustavo Nunes and Pedro Perry. Seven of the eight seeded pairs made it through the first round, with the surprise coming from Nicolas Zurita and Samuel Rivas, who defeated Alvaro Cepero and Hami Golestan (11).

 

All of the top eight seeded pairs advanced in the women’s draw, led by Ale Salazar and Aranzazu Osoro, who recorded a double 6-0 win over Serbian lucky losers Stojacic/Novcic, and Lorena Rufo and Victoria Iglesias, who defeated qualifiers Haddad/Duernberger 6-0 6-2. A tougher win came for third seeds Marta Talavan and Jessica Castelló, who came from a set down to beat Portilla/Ordonez 4-6 6-2 6-3. On Thursday, the tournament at the Padel Center Belgrade Waterfront gets into full swing with the last 16.