Portuguese Open: Cecchinato into second round, defeating Schwartzman, now 0-5 on clay

Italian Marco Cecchinato moved into the second round of the Portuguese Open by winning against Argentinian Diego Schwartzman, the No 7 seed, 6-3, 7-6 (8) at Clube de Ténis do Estoril on Monday evening.

“I’m fighting” Scwhartzman said after the match, as quoted on Twitter by Jorge Morgado. “I believe my level will return, but it’s been a lot of months of not playing well and losing. I need results so I can keep playing the big tournaments.”

Schwartzman is now ranked No 36.

Cecchinato, ranked No 96, will play the winner of the match between qualifier Alessandro Giannessi and Fabio Fognini next.

Estoril ATP250, other first-round results (Clube de Ténis do Estoril, clay, EUR 562.815, most recent results first):

• Nuno Borges vs. Quentin Halys
• Jurij Rodionov vs. Albert Ramos-Vinolas
• Giulio Zeppieri vs. João Sousa
• Luca Van Assche vs. Pedro Sousa
• Dominic Thiem vs. Sebastian Ofner
• Bernabe Zapata Miralles vs. Henrique Rocha
• Miomir Kecmanovic vs. Luca Nardi
• Constant Lestienne vs. Ben Shelton
• Alessandro Giannessi vs. Fabio Fognini
• Sebastian Baez (5) beat Radu Albot: 7-5, 7-6 (3)
• Pedro Cachin beat Chun-Hsin Tseng: 6-4, 6-4