Mallorca Championships aspirants know their rivals

Tsitsipas will face Hanfmann, Davidovich will play Kotov and Shelton will meet Eubanks

Excitement is building at the Mallorca Championships with the presence of the stars of the racket who have been preparing for their debuts on the courts of the Mallorca Country Club for days. On Monday the main favourites, exempted from the first round due to their status as seeded players, met their first opponents in the third edition of the tournament held in Santa Ponça (Calvià).

Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas, ATP No.5, will face Yannick Hanfmann. The German got rid of Argentinean Pedro Cachín (6-2, 6-1) and now challenges the top seeded player in his mission to defend the title he won last year at the Mallorca Championships.

Second seed Alejandro Davidovich will face Pavel Kotov. The Spaniard will have to face a player who has taken advantage of the second opportunity he has been given after being replayed from the qualifying round, like Lucky Loser, and beat Australian Li Tu (7-6 [4], 6-3).

Meanwhile, third seed Ben Shelton will do the same against fellow American Christopher Eubanks. The No.77 defeated his compatriot Alex Michelsen in another duel between Americans in a battle lasting more than two hours (6-3, 6-7 [6-7], 7-5).

Roberto Carballés reached the last 16 of the Mallorca Championships after completing his match against Ilya Ivashka (6-4, 1-6, 6-3) and will now face Frenchman Corentin Moutet. The Spaniard is the first of the local players to reach the second round, where Bernabé Zapata will not be able to join him after losing to Lloyd Harris (6-2, 7-6[2]).

The South African will now meet Roman Safiullin, who beat Jordanian player Abdullah Shelbayh (6-1 6-4) in the opening match of the day, also from the qualifying round.