Croatia Open 2019, Umag, ATP 250

[britbox]

DATE: July 15 - 21 2019
SURFACE: Clay
PRIZE MONEY: €524,340
FIELD SIZE: 28
2018 CHAMPION: Marco Cecchinati

Seeds:

1 FOGNINI, Fabio
2 CORIC, Borna
3 DJERE, Laslo
4 LAJOVIC, Dusan
5 CECCHINATO, Marco
6 KRAJINOVIC, Filip
7 KLIZAN, Martin
8 MAYER, Leonardo

The Tournament:

The Croatia Open began life as the Yugoslavia Open back in 1990. The tournament and side-events attract more than 100.000 guests, which at that time makes Umag inevitable summer center of tennis, beauty, entertainment, social gathering and experience of tastes and scents of Istria.

About Umag

Umag is a coastal city in Istria, Croatia and the municipality includes Savudrija/Salvore, the westernmost point of Croatia.

The geographical location of Umag, in particular, has ensured an intensive and dynamic growth of the tourist industry after World War II, which has been expanding rapidly ever since. The closeness of big west European markets and the rise in standard of East European countries have both accounted for the expansion of this economic branch which is tightly linked to other economic resources in the region the most significant being agriculture.

The best fertile soil and the vast arable land in the area have fostered the production of traditional Mediterranean crops present in the region for thousands of years, with particular emphasis on olive growing and wine growing.

Zeitblick / Wikimedia

Silverije / Wikimedia

Marianocecowski / Wikimedia

Tourism Guide:

 

[britbox]

Umag Draw

 

[don_fabio]

This is strongest field of players in Umag I've seen in years. Cecchinato is already out, downed by Bedene. I don't have time to watch now, but when I turned on the TV for 10mins saw him play. He asked the ball from a ball boy and then just punched it in a frustration over the centre court somewhere far. I was surprised to see that. That guy can't win a single match lately, no wonder he is not in the mood.

 

[britbox]

This is strongest field of players in Umag I've seen in years. Cecchinato is already out, downed by Bedene. I don't have time to watch now, but when I turned on the TV for 10mins saw him play. He asked the ball from a ball boy and then just punched it in a frustration over the centre court somewhere far. I was surprised to see that. That guy can't win a single match lately, no wonder he is not in the mood.

Yep, not a good spell for Marco.

Seventh seed Klizan follows him out of the door.

Tuesday Action - 1st Round:

Stefano Travaglia (ITA) beat Thomas Fabbiano (ITA) 6-3 6-2
Attila Balazs (HUN) beat Viktor Galovic (CRO) 6-0 6-7(5) 7-6(4)
6-Filip Krajinovic (SRB) beat Taro Daniel (JPN) 7-5 7-6
Paolo Lorenzi (ITA) beat Peter Torebko (GER) 5-7 6-4 7-6
8-Leonardo Mayer (ARG) beat Pablo Andujar (ESP) 6-1 7-5
Andrey Rublev (RUS) beat Robin Haase (NED) 6-3 6-2
Facundo Bagnis (ARG) beat 7-Martin Klizan (SVK) 4-6 6-3 7-5
Nino Serdarusic (CRO) beat Marco Trungelliti (ARG) 6-3 6-3
Salvatore Caruso (ITA) beat Corentin Moutet (FRA) 7-5 6-0

 

[Bonaca]

Aljaz is not that bad on clay and the Italian not that good.
Hope Borna takes his chance to win his home tournament.

 

[britbox]

2nd Round ..

Stefano Travaglia (ITA) beat 1-Fabio Fognini (ITA) 6-1 (Retired)
Attila Balazs (HUN) beat 6-Filip Krajinovic (SRB) 6-3 6-7(1) 7-6(5)
3-Laslo Djere (SRB) beat Paolo Lorenzi (ITA) 6-3 3-6 6-4
8-Leonardo Mayer (ARG) beat Jiri Vesely (CZE) 3-6 6-4 6-4

 

[britbox]

Aljaz is not that bad on clay and the Italian not that good.
Hope Borna takes his chance to win his home tournament.

Fabio is out.

 

[britbox]

Nice complex at Umag, right on the Adriatic.

 

[don_fabio]

Nice complex at Umag, right on the Adriatic.

I had a pleasure playing here as a kid a few tournaments and one time it was on a centre court.

It's a very nice complex there given the place where it is, right on the sea side. I actually never liked the color of the sea there as we were spoiled with clearer water down south. But I always liked this tourney and glad it survived all these years. That is partly due to Istria being considered as a small Italy inside Croatia with a different mentality than the rest of the country. Even the landscape there and pictoresque villages on the hills which are usually inland remind of Tuscany in Italy. Everyone speaks italian there and this is due to history when Istria was within italian border. A great place to visit.

This is Motovun, a famous village on the hill.

 

[Moxie]

Fabio is out.

He retired out, but I see no reports of injury. Dr. Isabelle will ferret it out, I'm sure.

 

[Bonaca]

Fabio is out.

Yeah chances raise!

 

[herios]

Yeah chances raise!

Borna is in some hole. Caruso is in the lead, one break up in the third set.

 

[Bonaca]

Borna is in some hole. Caruso is in the lead, one break up in the third set.

Yeah , he lost the third 6:1. Couldn't even beat this Italian in front of his crowd.

 

[don_fabio]

Yeah , he lost the third 6:1. Couldn't even beat this Italian in front of his crowd.

Yeah, terrible loss for him, Caruso is outside of top 100.

 

[britbox]

I had a pleasure playing here as a kid a few tournaments and one time it was on a centre court.

It's a very nice complex there given the place where it is, right on the sea side. I actually never liked the color of the sea there as we were spoiled with clearer water down south. But I always liked this tourney and glad it survived all these years. That is partly due to Istria being considered as a small Italy inside Croatia with a different mentality than the rest of the country. Even the landscape there and pictoresque villages on the hills which are usually inland remind of Tuscany in Italy. Everyone speaks italian there and this is due to history when Istria was within italian border. A great place to visit.

This is Motovun, a famous village on the hill.

Amazing scenery.

I can believe the part about the water further south. I remember going on holiday to Split when I was a kid and the water was beautifully clear once you got out into the Adriatic. We went on a fishing excursion and cooked the fish out on the beaches of one of the small islands. Always remember how beautiful and clear the water was. Really liked the region and remember acquiring a taste for Cevapcici.

 

[isabelle]

He retired out, but I see no reports of injury. Dr. Isabelle will ferret it out, I'm sure.

Dr Isabelle says "the Fog's leg injured"...(source l'Equipe)

 

[herios]

Good win for Djere over Mayer

 

[Bonaca]

Amazing scenery.

I can believe the part about the water further south. I remember going on holiday to Split when I was a kid and the water was beautifully clear once you got out into the Adriatic. We went on a fishing excursion and cooked the fish out on the beaches of one of the small islands. Always remember how beautiful and clear the water was. Really liked the region and remember acquiring a taste for Cevapcici.

It is still that clear, and the best sailing location in Europe!
Despite that hordes of tourists.

 

[don_fabio]

Amazing scenery.

I can believe the part about the water further south. I remember going on holiday to Split when I was a kid and the water was beautifully clear once you got out into the Adriatic. We went on a fishing excursion and cooked the fish out on the beaches of one of the small islands. Always remember how beautiful and clear the water was. Really liked the region and remember acquiring a taste for Cevapcici.

Those are some good memories you have glad to hear you enjoyed it. It is generally very clear waters in that region. Bol is my favourite place in the area with a famous beach (Zlatni Rat) which is usually on the postcards.

I lived in Split for 30 years before moving inland to Zagreb. People from Split are very proud of where they live, they have this "we are the craziest guys and our city is the best" mentality, when in reality is just another city on adriatic coast. Even Goran Ivanisevic (he is from Split) he said after winning Wimbledon that he would be a nobody (in his own words not even a sheep's dick) if he was not from Split. The city has a nice history, but now it's all about tourism. Every room in the city core is rented. There are restaurants and souvenir shops on every step, which kind of ruined it's soul, because many of the places which were there for a century and had a tradition just disappeared. That's a bit sad.

Funny you mentioned Cevapcici. I see tourists eating them all the time. We eat them too, you can buy them in supermarkets and butchers make them as well. It's very popular. It's like a local fast food, but that dish originally comes from Turkey and they are even tastier in Bosnia. They are experts for that stuff as they were under turkish influence longer than Croatia.

Hope I don't bore you to death.

 

[Moxie]

Seems we are more travelogue than tennis on this thread. (I'm fine with that, btw. Quiet times in real tennis, and a respite from the Fedalovic Wars.) In that spirit, I looked up Salvatore Caruso, who apparently comes from Avola in Sicily. So I googled it. Holy smokes! Pretty nice place to come from. Another one for the armchair travelers here.