The Spanish Albert Ramos He qualified for the round of 16 of the Rio de Janeiro Open, where he will meet his compatriot Pablo Andújar, after defeating the Argentine on Tuesday Juan Ignacio Londero 6-3 and 6-4. Ramos, 33rd in the ATP ranking and eighth seed in Rio de Janeiro, needed an hour and 23 minutes to beat Londero (number 144), who made it from the qualifier to the main draw. The victory allowed the 34-year-old Catalan, who two weeks ago won the Córdoba Open, to recover in the clay-court tournament season in Latin America, since last week he was eliminated in the first round of the Argentine Open.
Ramos had already defeated Londero in Córdoba. Today, in the first round match of the only ATP 500 tournament in South America, he beat him in the first set after breaking his serve twice. In the second set, Ramos took a 3-0 lead but allowed a reaction from Londero, who managed to tie 4-4. The Spaniard pressed again and won the sleeve after breaking his rival’s serve again.
Another Spaniard, Pablo Andújar (74), eliminated Chilean Pablo Cuevas (104) on Monday, who was champion of the Rio de Janeiro tournament in 2018. The Catalan joined Madrid’s Fernando Verdasco today, who on Tuesday advanced to the round of 16 by beating Serbian Dusan Lajovic. Verdasco (172), 38 years old and who disputes the Brazilian tournament with a protected ranking due to injuries that prevented him from playing last year, will face Argentine Federico Coria (63) in the next round. Other Spaniards guaranteed quotas in the second round on Monday. In addition to Andújar, Carlos Alcaraz and Pedro Martínez won their first round matches.
Pablo Carreño (18) joins the five qualified Spaniards, who had his place guaranteed in the round of 16 for being the fourth favorite in Rio de Janeiro.