Umag, 24 July 2022 – On the first day of the main tournament of the Plava Laguna Croatia Open Umag, Croatia will be represented by Mili Poljičak. For the current champion of the Junior Wimbledon tournament this will mark his first singles match on an ATP tournament, and he will be playing against one of the qualifying players, Marco Cecchinato. The Italian was once ranked 16th in the ATP rankings, but he had to play the qualifiers this season in Umag, which he passed after his fellow Italian, Andreas Seppi, had to forfeit in the 2nd round due to a shoulder injury.
Poljičak received an invitation for the Umag tournament, just like last year, when he played doubles at Stella Maris with Admir Kalender. Following their 1st round victory, they lost their match in the round of 16 after a dramatic battle (14:16 in the third set), having missed four match points.
The main draw of this year's singles ATP tournament in Umag will include two other Croatian players, Duje Ajduković and Dino Prižmić, whose first matches are scheduled for Tuesday. Ajduković will face Slovak Alex Molčan, while Prižmić will play against Spain’s Bernabé Zapata Miralles. Matija Pecotić had a chance to join them, but he was defeated by the first seeded Corentin Moutet (France) in the crucial qualifying round, with a result of 7:5, 6:4.
Three matches of the first round in the singles tournament will be played on Monday, all of them on the Goran Ivanišević central court. At 4 p.m. Italian Zeppieri will play against Argentinian Cachín, followed by the match between Italian Fognini (Umag 2016 champion) and Colombian Galán, and some time after 8 p.m. Poljičak faces Cecchinato.
The first round matches in the main draw of the Plava Laguna Croatia Open Umag will take place on Monday and Tuesday, while the top-four seeded players (Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner, Holger Rune and Sebastián Báez) will join the tournament in the second round, on Wednesday or Thursday.
Once again, Umag will be the capital of tennis, and apart from the main tournament, almost 500 amateur players will participate in accompanying tournaments, such as the traditional VIP tournament, HEPi tournament, Umag Stars Open and the third ITF wheelchair tennis tournament.
