#NextGenATP Italians Flavio Cobolli and Giulio Zeppieri were among the winners Monday in Paris as the first round of qualifying for Roland Garros kicked off in the French capital.
World No. 153 Cobolli made his ATP Masters 1000 debut last week as a wild card at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome, where he fell to Jenson Brooksby in the first round. The 20-year-old, who sits ninth in the Pepperstone ATP Race To Milan, bounced back strongly from that defeat in Paris with a 6-3, 6-4 triumph over French wild card Sascha Gueymard Wayenburg.
His countryman Zeppieri, who is 28th in the race to qualify for November’s Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals, continued his strong form on the European clay with a 6-3, 6-4 win over countryman Andreas Seppi. Former World No. 18 Seppi reached the fourth round in Paris in 2012, but Zeppieri broke once in each set to book a second-round clash with Marius Copil.
No. 215-ranked Zeppieri is full of confidence after coming through qualifying to make his Masters 1000 debut in Rome last week. The 20-year-old upset Marrakech runner-up Alex Molcan and big-serving American Maxime Cressy to reach the main draw, where he fell to Karen Khachanov.
There was an impressive win for another Italian on Monday as Franco Agamenone beat second-seeded Colombian Daniel Elahi Galan, 7-5, 3-6, 6-3. World No. 155 Agamenone is playing in qualifying in Paris for the first time, and he next faces Alexandre Muller after the Frenchman breezed past Cem Ilkel 6-0, 6-1.
There were early exits for other seeded players bidding to qualify for the second Grand Slam of the year. Zsombor Piros upset former World No. 11 Sam Querrey, with the Hungarian racing to a 6-2, 6-2 win over the third seed in just 58 minutes, while Ramkumar Ramanathan took out ninth seed Yannick Hanfmann 6-3, 6-2. Piros next takes on Egor Gerasimov, while Ramanathan will face home wild card Sean Cuenin.
Sixth seed Radu Albot made a winning start with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 win over Matheus Pucinelli De Almeida while 10th seed Norbert Gombos was also taken the distance before he advanced past Frenchman Constant Lestienne, 3-6, 6-2, 7-5.
