Three former ATP champions will play in qualifying tournament for Sofia Open 2019. Viktor Troicki (Moscow 2010, Sydney 2015-16), Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (Kitzbuhel 2009, Bangkok 2010, Casablanca 2014, Zagreb 2015, Bucharest 2015) and Sergiy Stakhovsky (Zagreb 2008, St. Petersburg 2009, ‘s-Hertogenbosch 2010, New Haven 2010) will fight for the four entries into the main draw.
Troicki will become the first player with four appearances at Sofia Open. The Serb was a finalist in 2016 and reached quarterfinals in 2017 and 2018. He’s ranked 200 in the world but after coming through qualifying and reaching second round is expected to climb about 20 places.
Garcia-Lopez was part of the inaugural Sofia Open in 2016 where he lost in the quarterfinal to Gilles Muller. Spaniard will come to Sofia for the third time. He played at a Challenger in 2003, beating Tipsarevic and reaching the second round.
Stakhovsky is coming back to Sofia Open after a two-year absence. He played in 2016 but lost in the opening round to Phillip Kohlschreiber.
With the qualies cutoff set at #200 the seven-time Grand Slam quarterfinalist Tommy Robredo is a first alternate. Spaniard dropped to #203 after losing five straight first round matches dating back to October last year.
Official player acceptance list for Sofia Open qualifying
Guillermo Garcia Lopez (Spain, #100)
Lukas Lacko (Slovakia, #115)
Yannick Maden (Germany, #124)
Sergiy Stakhovsky (Ukraine, #132)
Stefano Travaglia (Italy, #137)
Egor Gerasimov (Belarus, #158)
Luca Vanni (Italy, #163)
Kamil Majchrzak (Poland, #176)
Andrea Arnaboldi (Italy, #178)
Daniel Brands (Germany, #183)
James Ward (Great Britain, #187)
Daniel Gimeno-Traver Spain #188)
Viktor Troicki (Serbia, #200)
The two Wild Cards for the qualifying will be given to the finalists of Bulgarian National Indoor Championships.
Sofia Open 2019 will take place February 3 – 10 in Arena Armeec. List of players, accepted into the main draw, is highlighted by the three-times Grand Slam champion Stan Wawrinka. Spectators in Sofia will also see the Next Gen stars Karen Khachanov and Stefanos Tsitsipas, Daniil Medvedev, Nikoloz Basilashvili, veterans Fernando Verdasco and Gael Monfils, 2016 champion Roberto Bautista Agut and 2018 champion Mirza Basic.
Tickets for Sofia Open 2019 are at sale at www.eventim.bg.
