The fifth edition of Cordoba open, one of the two ATP 250 tournaments held in Argentina (together with the one in Buenos Aires), kicked off this Monday, with two national rackets as favourites. The race has become the favorite of several big players in just a handful of seasons and this 2023 will see two champions from Davis Cup already four top 50. Here are some curiosities about the first date of the traditional South American tour of brick dust, known in the circuit as golden swing (or golden round).

Ten Argentines in the singles draw

Driven by diego schwartzmann AND Francis Cerundolo, there will be a dozen albiceleste players at the singles table. He small28th in the standings and first seeded, she will make her debut in the second round against the winner of the duel between Juan Manuel Cerundoloone of the guests of the organization, and the Spanish Pablo Andujar, who will clash this Monday, not before 18:30. Meanwhile Francisco, 31st and second seeded, could also make his debut against a compatriot: he awaits the round of 16 Federico Delbonis or Chilean Alexander Tabilo.

Sebastian BaezSeeded fourth, he also went out in the first round and will start against the Italian Luciano Darderiarising from the classification, or Hugh Gaston. While, Pedro Cachin (5th) will clash on his debut with the Bolivian Hugo Dellien; Frederick Coria (6th), with the Brazilian Thiago Monteiro.Thomas Etcheverrywith the Portuguese João Sousa; Facundo Bagnisbefore Italian Mark Cecchino; AND Guido Pelleagainst Andrea Vavassori.

Three trying to repeat

Three of the four former champions of the tournament will play again in Córdoba, with the hope of repeating the celebration. Among them, a national representative, Juanma Cerundolowho won the title in 2021 and was the first player to win an ATP tournament starting with qualifying in his first tournament since he did Santiago Ventura in Casablanca in 2004.

The porteño, who reached the 79th step of the standings just over a year ago, is now 114th, after a 2022 complicated by a recurring hip injury. But he arrives at a great moment, after winning two matches in a row in Tigre, in the first two weeks of January.

The Chilean Christian Garin and the Spanish Alberto Ramos Vinolas, third favorite, are the others who already know what it’s like to lift a trophy in the brick dust of Cordovan. The first was done in 2021 by beating Schwartzman in the deciding instance. And the second, last year, with the victory against the Chilean Tabilo. The only absent former champion is Juan Ignacio Londerowhich was crowned in 2019, in the initial edition.

Two Davis champions lose in Córdoba

Federico Delbonis AND Guido Pelle They were part of the Argentine team that won the historic league title in 2016 Davis Cup. Azuleño was tasked with sealing a 3-2 draw against Croatia in the final, with a major triumph against Ivo Karlovich at the last point. The Bahian traveled to Zagreb but did not play in that decider, although he had been instrumental in the first-round clashes against Poland, the quarter-finals against Italy and the semi-finals against Great Britain.

Pella, who is returning to regular racing after a long inactivity due to a chronic injury to his right knee, received a joker card for the Cordovan contest, in which he was a finalist in 2019 (lost to Londero). Delbonis, 131st, had to contest the standings, in which he beat Mariano Navone AND Thiago Tirante to enter the main draw.

Perfect assistance

In this 2023 there will be four players who will extend their perfect appearance record in the tournament. They will be Schwartzman; Bagnis, who had his best performance of 2021, when he started from qualifying and reached the semifinals; Hugo Dellien, who will try to access the second round for the first time; and Ramos Viñolas, who will make his debut against the Peruvian John Paul Varillas or Serbian Dusan Lajovic.

Meanwhile Londero, the Spaniard Jaume Munarwho reached the quarterfinals in 2019, and the Slovak Andrew Martinsemifinalist in 2020, they had played the first four editions and, absent this year, they will break the positive series.

a special setting

The Cordoba Open fields are located just 250 meters from one of the most emblematic football stadiums in our country, the Mario Alberto Kempes (known for many years as Chateau Carreras), one of the scenarios that hosted the action of the 1978 World Cup that was played in our country. That court became the epicenter of the Sports Polo to which it has lent its name and which is one of the best sports complexes in Argentina, where many schools of different disciplines also operate and where international competitions and tournaments are held.

The “expansion” started more than ten years ago and already has several swimming pools (including the Olympic swimming pool Georgina Bardach), hockey rinks (the main, christened garcia loneliness), a state-of-the-art athletics track, cycling circuits, spaces for the practice of extreme sports, soccer fields, basketball courts and other disciplines, and a High Performance Center, which provides health care, nutrition, psychological support, physical preparation and even accommodation for athletes. And, of course, several tennis courts, the last one inaugurated in 2019, for the first edition of the competition.

Ramos Vinolas, record holder

The Spaniard Ramos Viñolas has scored, in his four participations, several milestones in the Cordoba Open. After reaching the deciding round in 2022, he became the first player to reach the final twice, as in 2021 he had lost against the youngest Cerúndolos there.

In the last edition he was also one of the protagonists of the longest match in the short history of the tournament. It was in the second round, where he beat his compatriot Pablo Andújar 6-3, 6-7 (4-7) and 6-4 in three hours and 20 minutes. And he is also the tennis player with the most victories in the tournament, 12 (one in 2019, two in 2020, four in 2021 and five in 2022) and the oldest champion (he was 34 when he was crowned twelve months ago).

The Argentines, with a good record

The Albiceleste players are very comfortable on the Cordoba fields and there is a statistic that makes it clear. All editions of this ATP have had at least one Argentinian among the semifinalists.

In 2019 there were three, Londero, then champion, Delbonis and Pella, who they beat Pablo Cuevas. In 2020 the only one was Schwartzman. He small he beat the Serbian there Laslo Djere and lost the title to Garín, who had defeated Martin. In 2021 Bagnis lost a semifinal against Ramos Viñolas e Juanma Cerúndolo beat the other at Frederick Coria. And last year Tabilo beat Schwartzman and Ramos, Londero; and subsequently they played the only final without a Biancoceleste presence.

foreign guests

In the previous four editions, representatives from 19 different countries were present. This season the team will have players with twelve different flags, as well as, of course, blue and white. There will be tennis players from Spain -the one that will have more representatives (5) after Argentina-, Italy, Germany, Brazil, Colombia, Spain, kilos, Slovakia, Serbian, France, Colombia, Peru AND Denmark.

Among the rackets arriving from abroad to play the match, in addition to Ramos Viñolas, three Italians stand out, for different reasons. Mark Cecchinoformer 16th in the world (today he is 93rd), he was a semifinalist in Roland Garros 2018. Andrea Vavassori221st in the ranking, he has been a professional since 2014 and will play, at the age of 27, just his third main draw on the major circuit, after the Stockholm 2021 ATP (he reached the round of 16) and Wimbledon 2022 (first round). AND Luciano Darderi, born in Villa Gesell 20 years ago, but who has been representing that European country since he was 14, where he also resides. In Córdoba he overcame the qualifiers with victories against the German Hanfmann and John Paul Ficovich and will play his first ATP.

much more than tennis

The public who come to the Córdoba Open throughout the week will be able to enjoy much more than tennis. A much larger food court was set up on site than in previous years, with offers for all tastes, which filled up during the qualifying days, especially on Sundays, when Kids Day was held, with over 130 kids from the schools and clubs in Córdoba. And you can also visit the premises of various sponsors and other brands, different related to sports, to pick up a souvenir or try your luck with some games to win a prize.

And, of course, spectators will have the opportunity to see their idols up close and, perhaps, even take a photo or an autograph of their favorite players, as happened to Georgina, a fan of Guido Pella. She arrived at the property on Monday hoping to meet the man from Bahia. She found out, went over to her and even gave her a bracelet.

Tickets and matches on Monday

The contest, which will distribute $642,735 in prizes, will play the quarterfinals on Friday, the semifinals on Saturday and the final on Sunday at 5 p.m. Tickets are still available for all days, which can be obtained at Ticketek.

The cheapest – for the daytime sessions of the first two days – cost three thousand pesos. The most expensive, in the best seats of the stadium, for the duel for the title, 27 thousand. The full season ticket – to enjoy the whole week of action – ranges from 30,600 to 51,000, depending on where the place is. And the three-day weekend pass starts at 18,000.

The action this Monday began with the clash between the Spaniards Roberto Carballes Baena and Bernabe Zapata. Then the Serbian Dusan Lajovic and the Peruvian Juan Pablo Varillas will play. In the night session, starting at 18:30, Juanma Cerúndolo with Pablo Andújar and Darderi with the Frenchman Hugo Gastón.