Day 1 Results, 2020 Cordoba Open: Cuevas through, Verdasco upset by qualifier

The clay-court season commenced with the Cordoba Open, which is the first of five tournaments being held in Latin America. And it laid claim to it's first casualty, with Fernando Verdasco eliminated in his opening match.

The 7th seeded Spaniard fell in the opening round to qualifier and World No.198 Carlos Taberner, who rallied from a set down to upset his countryman 4-6 6-1 6-4.

After winning the first set and seemingly in control of the match, unforced errors began to creep into Verdasco's game. His less experienced compatriot capitalized on these mistakes and was able to turn the tide in his favor, winning the second set.

Verdasco was unable to develop any rhythm soon after, and lost the final set and match in an hour and 48 minutes.

This was just the 2nd ATP Tour-level victory for Taberner, who lost to Stefanos Tsitsipas in the first round of the 2018 French Open. He next faces the winner between Argentine Federico Coria and Slovakian Andrej Martin.

Uruguay's Pablo Cuevas overcame Argentine Federico Delbonis 7-5 6-2 in his opening round match. The 6th seed faces Italian Gianluca Mager, who defeated Argentine qualifier Juan Pablo Ficovich 6-2 3-6 6-2 in his first round match.

Hungarian Attila Balazs pulled off another upset, dismissing 2019 Antalya champion Lorenzo Sonego 6-2 7-6(3). The World No.108 emerged victorious in two hours, and next faces 3rd seed Cristian Garin in the second round. Garin won 2 ATP titles last year (Houston, Munich) and should be a tough challenge for the Hungarian.

[embed]https://twitter.com/atptour/status/1224374185662828544[/embed]