Poljičak will face former Umag winner and 2018 Roland Garros semifinalist Marco Cecchinato (ATP – 147), reports HRT.
The 29-year-old Italian had the best season of his career four years ago, when he won his premier title in Budapest as a qualifier, reached the Roland Garros semifinals by defeating Novak Djokovic, and celebrated at the Croatia Open by defeating Argentinian Guido Pella in the final. This will be only his seventh appearance at the ATP Tour and Grand Slam tournament level.
He only made it through one round in Geneva and Roland Garros and overturned a two-set deficit against Spaniard Pablo Andujar in the first round of the Paris Grand Slam tournament. Cecchinato had a career ranking at the end of February 2019 and reached 16th place in the ATP singles ranking.
This year he had to play in the Umag qualifiers, and his victory against the Croatian representative Domagoj Bilješko on Saturday brought him to the main tournament after 38-year-old Andreas Seppi withdrew from the following match due to a shoulder injury.
The first qualifier was Frenchman Corentin Moutet (ATP – 112), who beat Matija Pecotić 7-5, 6-4 in Sunday’s final round. The 33-year-old Croatian representative remained one step away from entering the main draw of the Umag ATP tournament for the second year in a row.
Along with Cecchinato, two other Italian tennis players, 20-year-old Giulio Zeppieri and 29-year-old Franco Agamenone advanced to the main tournament on Sunday, so the Italians will be the most represented nation at the 32nd edition of the Plava Laguna Croatia Open with a total of six representatives. Argentina has five tennis players in the main draw of the Umag tournament, while Spain is the third most represented country with four representatives.
Croatia has the youngest representative, the current European junior runner-up, 16-year-old Dino Prižmić from Split. The oldest player in the tournament is the 35-year-old Italian Fabio Fognini, who will appear for the 12th time at the tournament, where he triumphed in 2016 and was a finalist in 2013.
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