No. 7 Granollers falls on opening day in Romania

While the tennis world anticipates this afternoon’s US Open men’s singles final between Roger Federer and Andy Murray, five matches at the BCR Open Romania were completed in this week’s only ATP Tour level event.

Potito Starace of Italy pulled off the tournament’s first upset with a convincing, 6-2, 6-4, victory over No. 7 seed Marcel Granollers (pictured). Currently ranked No. 77 in the South African Airways ATP Rankings, Starace was able to convert on four of 14 break point chances, while making 84 percent of his first serve points. A semifinalist in Kitzbuhel (Austria) and a four-time quarterfinalist this season, Starace remains unbeaten against Granollers, winning previously in Valencia, Spain in 2007. The young Italian will next face off against Frenchman Florent Serra, who grinded out a three set victory over Nicolas Devilder, 3-6, 7-6(6), 7-6(4), in just under three hours.

Other completed matches on Day One in Bucharest, Guillermo Garcia-Lopez held off a late charge by rising Russian star Mischa Zverev to advance to the 2nd round with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-0 victory. German Denis Gremelmayr also advanced as he earned his 15th win of the season with a 6-1, 5-7, 6-4, victory over rising Frenchman Jeremy Chardy to set up a second round clash with either No. 4 seed Paul-Henri Mathieu or Ivan Navarro. Spaniard Albert Montanes was able to advance as he got the best of Korea’s Hyung-Taik Lee despite a poor serving outing. The world No. 59 who won the title in Amersfoort (Netherlands) next meets either the defending champion No. 2 seed Gilles Simon or Evgeny Korolev for a place in the quarterfinals.