Roberto Carballes Baena made a assured begin to his bid for a second clay-court crown of the season on Monday on the Generali Open, the place the Spaniard downed Guido Pella 6-2, 6-4 to advance in Kitzbühel.

Carballes Baena assumed management early of the pair’s first Lexus ATP Head2Head assembly since 2019, reeling off 5 video games in a row from 1-2 to assert the primary set. A solitary break within the second set proved sufficient for the World No. 59 to finish a 71-minute victory and attain the second spherical for the third time in 4 appearances on the ATP 250 within the Austrian Alps.

“I believe I performed a extremely good match,” stated the sixth-seeded Spaniard in his on-court interview. “It was not simple for me as a result of I solely practised yesterday, however I believe I served very effectively and I performed very aggressively.”

SUPER spectacular 😤

No. 6 seed @Robertocarba93 takes a commanding 6-2 lead over Pella.#GeneraliOpen pic.twitter.com/FNbZ8f7EZG

— ATP Tour (@atptour) July 31, 2023

Carballes Baena rose to a career-high No. 49 within the Pepperstone ATP Rankings in April after claiming his second tour-level title in Marrakech. The 30-year-old is now 18-18 for the 12 months and feeling assured as he appears to be like to forge a deep run on the clay of Kitzbühel.

“I believe I performed my greatest tennis this 12 months,” stated Carballes Baena. “I performed extra aggressive and with confidence. I like these circumstances, I just like the altitude, so I hope to have an excellent event.”

The Spaniard’s second-round opponent might be Sebastian Baez, after the Argentine loved a 6-4, 6-2 victory in opposition to Hamad Medjedovic on his Kitzbühel debut. The 22-year-old Baez, who’s chasing his third clay-court ATP 250 title this week, stayed rock-solid from the baseline for an 83-minute win in opposition to #NextGenATP Medjedovic within the pair’s maiden Lexus ATP Head2Head assembly.

Alex Molcan and Guido Andreozzi had been additionally first-round winners on Monday. Molcan downed the in-form #NextGenATP Frenchman Luca Van Assche 6-4, 6-3 to enhance his profession file on clay to 29-16. The Slovakian, who reached tour-level finals on the floor in Belgrade in 2021 and Marrakech and Lyon in 2022, transformed three of 11 break factors he earned in opposition to Van Assche to guide a second-round assembly with fourth seed Sebastian Ofner.

The Argentine qualifier Andreozzi notched his first tour-level win since 2019 with a 5-7, 6-4, 6-2 triumph in opposition to 2022 finalist Filip Misolic. Andreozzi stored his cool within the decider to speed up to victory in opposition to residence favorite Misolic and set a second-round assembly with prime seed Tomas Martin Etcheverry.