Giulio Zeppieri positioned the cannon once again. Federico Coria was blown away by it first, and in his next match, Luca van Assche became the victim. With speeds well above 200 km, the serve is a powerful weapon for Zeppieri. But that’s not his only weapon. Against van Assche, he demonstrated solidity on all fronts and proved to be a the better ¨player: with 6-3 and 6-4, the victory went to the Italian, who thus qualified for the main tournament. Titouan Droguet was more succelful than his compatriot van Assche. He did lose the first set 4-6 to Vilius Gaubas from Lithuania, but through mental resilience and his enormous effort and energy, despite the heat, he managed to turn the match around with two sets of 6-3. So we will also see Droguet back in the main tournament.
A comparable springboard is the Ecuadorian Alvaro Guillen Meza. He continues as well, because he was successful in his match against the Croatian Luka Mikrut. Despite the support from the crowd, he could not find the key to disrupt the game of Guillen Meza. That game is also quite unique. Almost every strike from the Ecuadorian is accompanied by a jump, making it look very powerful. His serve, however, is often noticeably slow. While most players generate speeds between 190 and 230 km/h, Guillen Meza regularly serves only between 120 and 150 km/h. But it is well-placed and comes with a lot of spin. He has been successful with it so far, as he won also against Mikrut with 6-3 and 6-1. Whether he will also be successful in his next match in the main tournament remains to be seen. None other than three-time Grand Slam winner Stan Wawrinka will be his opponent. Andrea Pellegrino was the top seed in the qualifying tournament, but we will not see the Italian in the main draw. He lost 6-3, 6-4 to the Spaniard Pablo Llamas Ruiz.
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