Former US Open champion Marin Cilic suffered a shock first-round defeat at Sofia Open. The Czech teen sensation Jonas Forejtek shocked him in the first round in straight sets – 6:3, 6:2. Forejtek received a wild card for the main draw. It was his ATP Tour main draw debut. The #NextGenATP Czech converted four of his five break points to eliminate the former World No. 3 in 66 minutes.
Jonas Forejtek was the No. 1 junior last year, winning three Grand Slam titles (US Open singles and Australian Open & Wimbledon doubles). In the first set, he won 7 games in a row starting at 3:3. Ciclic came back to win two his service games, but it was all.
So the year remained poor for the former world No 3. The Croat went title-less in 2019 and continued his poor run of form in 2020 having been unable to get past the Round of 16 in any event.
In the next round Forejtek will meet the winner between Roberto Carballes Baena (ESP) and Richard Gasquet (FRA).
Adrian Mannarino recovered from a set down to book his place in the Sofia Open second round on Monday.
The Nur-Sultan runner-up struck 10 aces and broke serve on four occasions to outlast Martin Klizan 3-6, 6-1, 7-5 in two hours and nine minutes. Mannarino, who is making his fifth straight appearance in Sofia, improved to 8-3 since the start of last month’s bett1HULKS Championship in Cologne.
Mannarino will face Egor Gerasimov for a place in the quarter-finals. The Belarusian saved two of three break points to beat Viktor Troicki 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 in one hour and 43 minutes.
Early exit suffered the former Sofia Open finalist Viktor Troicki. The Serb, who reached the final in 2016, lost to Egor Gerasimov 3:6, 6:3, 3:6.
Canadian Vasek Pospisil marched on to the second round after winning Lucky Loser Ilya Marchenko 6:2, 5:7, 7:6. The 30-year-old, who recovered from 0/40 down at 5-5 in the final set, saved eight of 10 break points.
Salvatore Caruso made his way to the second round after stopping the local hope for success – Dimitar Kuzmanov. The Bulgarian was impressive in the first set, winning 6:4, but then the Italian dominated 6:4, 6:4. The 27-year-old will meet second seed Felix Auger-Aliassime in his next match.
In the battle of the qualifiers, Aslan Karatsev won to Taro Daniel 7:6 (2), 6:1.
