Bucharest
\n Baez breezes, Molcan & Sakellaridis earn two wins each on busy day in Bucharest<\/p>\n
Seeds Navone, Van de Zandschulp advance at ATP 250<\/p>\n
March 31, 2026<\/p>\n
ATP 250 Tiriac Open<\/p>\n
Sebastian Baez in action against Vilius Gaubas on Tuesday in Bucharest.
\n By Andy West<\/p>\n
Sebastian Baez<\/a> wasted little time getting down to business once the Bucharest skies finally cleared at the Tiriac Open presented by UniCredit Bank<\/a>. <\/p>\n With persistent rain having delayed the start of main-draw action in the Romanian capital by a day, Baez headlined a stacked Tuesday schedule in style at the clay-court ATP 250. The fifth-seeded Argentine, a finalist in Bucharest a year ago, powered past Vilius Gaubas<\/a> 6-3, 6-1 in just 80 minutes. <\/p>\n Clinical from Baez \ud83e\udee1<\/p>\n Last year\u2019s finalist opens his Bucharest campaign with a dominant 6-1, 6-3 victory over Gaubas #TiriacOpen2026<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/NSq6PvwnUi<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 ATP Tour (@atptour) March 31, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m happy to be back, to be here on this court where I have good memories, and some not the best,\u201d said Baez. \u201cIn any case, I like to play here with the crowd, and of course I\u2019m happy with my level today. I know him. It\u2019s the first time we played, but he\u2019s a good player with a good future, so all the best to him and of course I\u2019m happy to be in the next round.\u201d <\/p>\n Baez saved all five break points he faced in his maiden Lexus ATP Head2Head clash with the 21-year-old Lithuanian Gaubas. The No. 50 player in the PIF ATP Rankings will next face Frenchman Titouan Droguet<\/a>, who defeated former Top 10 star Roberto Bautista Agut<\/a> 6-1, 1-6, 6-1. <\/p>\n Baez and Gaubas had earlier been made to wait a little longer for their encounter after Damir Dzumhur<\/a> and Filip Cristian Jianu<\/a> played out a two-hour, 41-minute thriller on Central Court. <\/p>\n Home wild card Jianu, the World No. 246, threatened a remarkable comeback in a final set during which his movement was severely hampered by cramp. He rallied from 0-3 to serve for the match at 6-5, but Dzumhur found a late surge to ultimately prevail 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(4) and book a second-round appointment with fourth seed Nuno Borges<\/a>. <\/p>\n Meanwhile, both Alex Molcan<\/a> and Stefanos Sakellaridis<\/a> enjoyed a double taste of victory on Tuesday, when they each completed a rain-delayed final-round qualifying win before also claiming a main-draw triumph. <\/p>\n Molcan had led Jay Clarke<\/a> 4-1 overnight and went on to save a match point before prevailing 6-3, 5-7, 7-6(4) to qualify for the main draw. The former Top 50 star then returned to court in the evening to down Matteo Arnaldi<\/a> 6-3, 6-1 in his first-round match. Molcan, who is making his Bucharest debut this year, will next take on top seed Gabriel Diallo<\/a>. <\/p>\n Sakellaridis turned a 5-2 overnight lead in his final qualifying match against Dimitar Kuzmanov<\/a> into a 6-3, 7-6(6) victory, before later easing past Jan Choinski<\/a> for a second-round spot. The Greek\u2019s 6-3, 6-4 triumph against Choinski was his first tour-level win outside of Davis Cup play since he memorably upset Zizou Bergs<\/a> as an 803-ranked 18-year-old at the 2023 United Cup<\/a>. <\/p>\n Third seed Fabian Marozsan<\/a> will be Sakellaridis’ next opponent in Bucharest, where seventh seed Mariano Navone<\/a>, eighth seed Botic van de Zandschulp<\/a> and Alexander Shevchenko<\/a> were among the other winners from the 12 first-round matches on Tuesday\u2019s schedule. Navone downed Christopher O\u2019Connell<\/a> 6-4, 7-6(8), Van de Zandschulp defeated Francesco Maestrelli<\/a> 6-3, 6-2 and Shevchenko downed wild card Radu David Turcanu<\/a> 6-2, 6-4.<\/p>\n