Wild cards beat the qualifiers, the No. 2 seed goes out

Wednesday at the AZS Poznań courts brought a full slate of sixteen first-round matches in the main draw — twelve in singles and four in doubles. Both Poles holding wild cards beat qualifiers, top seed Daniel Michalski needed a tie-break to hold his position, and the biggest surprise of the day was the exit of No. 2 seed Tiago Pereira.

Upset of the day: the No. 2 seed falls at the first hurdle

Niccolo Catini had nothing to lose in this match and played as if he knew it. The unseeded Italian won both sets after a fight, and the second-set tie-break settled the outcome.

Round 1 · Court 2 · Singles

Niccolo Catini ✓777

Tiago Pereira [2]564

The highest seed to fall. Pereira did not leave Poznań empty-handed, though — in the evening he won his first-round doubles match.

Both wild cards beat the qualifiers

Wednesday belonged to the wild card holders — every single one of them. Borys Zgoła, a young AZS Poznań player, dispatched qualifier Dawid Wiśniewski in under an hour and a half.

1st round · Court 1 · Singles

Borys Zgoła [WC] ✓66

Dawid Wiśniewski [Q]32

Zgoła's first main-draw win at the Astra Coffee & More Open.

A few hours later Jan Wygona did the same — with the difference that his qualifier made life far harder for him and only gave up the second set in a tie-break.

1st round · Court 3 · Singles

Jan Wygona [WC] ✓677

Jan Chłodnicki [Q]264

The second of the two wild card versus qualifier duels — and the second won by the wild card.

Michalski defends the top seeding in a tie-break

Top seed Daniel Michalski had the toughest passage of all the Polish winners. Franco Ribero gave up the first set easily, but forced a tie-break in the second.

1st round · Court 1 · Singles

Daniel Michalski [1] ✓677

Franco Ribero263

The highest-seeded Pole in the draw plays on.

Doubles in the evening: Zgoła's double day

Borys Zgoła's day carried on after dark. Partnering Miłosz Sroka, he won an all-Polish doubles duel and will play for a place in the doubles semi-finals tomorrow.

1st round · Court 1 · Doubles

Sroka/Zgoła [WC] ✓66

Lechno-Wasiutyński/Wygona43

Zgoła won twice on Wednesday: singles in the morning, doubles in the evening.

Our young AZS Poznań player, Borys Zgoła, was excellent. He won his singles match in the morning, and in the evening, playing alongside Miłosz Sroka, they beat the pair of Lechno-Wasiutyński / Wygona. Borys showed himself very well and tomorrow he will be fighting for the next round.

Jacek Muzolf, tournament director

Three sets and one retirement

Two matches went the distance. Valentin Basel lost the first set to qualifier Alex Finkelstein, then gave him only four more games. Niklas Guttau survived a second set in which Kacper Knitter took the tie-break 8:6, and finished the job in the third.

1st round · Court 4 · Singles

Niklas Guttau ✓6666

Kacper Knitter3783

The longest match of the day. Knitter levelled the match in the tie-break, but dropped serve twice in the decider.

The match between Miłosz Sroka and Matyas Cerny ended with the Pole retiring at 0:6, 0:5. A few hours later Sroka was back on court in the doubles — and won.

Crowds are growing

There were plenty of spectators today and the weather is holding — I think it will stay that way to the end. Especially if the Poznań players are still in it, the fans will turn up. The Poles keep winning and we have our fingers crossed that they go as far as possible in this tournament.

Jacek Muzolf, tournament director

Tomorrow: an all-Polish opener

On Thursday we play on three courts from 10:00 — and the most interesting item comes first. Court 1 opens with Daniel Michalski (1) — Jan Wygona (WC), the top seed against a wild card holder. Straight after him, on the same court, Borys Zgoła (WC) takes on Vladyslav Orlov (4), and not before 13:00 Fryderyk Lechno-Wasiutyński (8) faces Niklas Guttau. Court 1 closes with the doubles quarter-final: Sroka / Zgoła against the top-seeded pair Basel / Ribero (1).

On Court 3 Matyas Cerny meets Kacper Filar (7), Filip Pieczonka plays Oleg Prihodko (3), and Michael Savano faces Niccolo Catini. On Court 4 Nikita Mashtakov takes on Kirill Kivattsev (6), and Gerard Campana Lee (5) plays Valentin Basel.