Baez Breezes, Molcan & Sakellaridis Earn Two Wins Each On Busy Day In Bucharest

Sebastian Baez wasted little time getting down to business once the Bucharest skies finally cleared at the Tiriac Open presented by UniCredit Bank.

With persistent rain having delayed the start of main-draw action in the Romanian capital by a day, Baez headlined a stacked Tuesday schedule in style at the clay-court ATP 250. The fifth-seeded Argentine, a finalist in Bucharest a year ago, powered past Vilius Gaubas 6-3, 6-1 in just 80 minutes.

Clinical from Baez ????

Last year’s finalist opens his Bucharest campaign with a dominant 6-1, 6-3 victory over Gaubas #TiriacOpen2026 pic.twitter.com/NSq6PvwnUi

— ATP Tour (@atptour) March 31, 2026

“I’m happy to be back, to be here on this court where I have good memories, and some not the best,” said Baez. “In any case, I like to play here with the crowd, and of course I’m happy with my level today. I know him. It’s the first time we played, but he’s a good player with a good future, so all the best to him and of course I’m happy to be in the next round.”

Baez saved all five break points he faced in his maiden Lexus ATP Head2Head clash with the 21-year-old Lithuanian Gaubas. The No. 50 player in the PIF ATP Rankings will next face Frenchman Titouan Droguet, who defeated former Top 10 star Roberto Bautista Agut 6-1, 1-6, 6-1.

Baez and Gaubas had earlier been made to wait a little longer for their encounter after Damir Dzumhur and Filip Cristian Jianu played out a two-hour, 41-minute thriller on Central Court.

Home wild card Jianu, the World No. 246, threatened a remarkable comeback in a final set during which his movement was severely hampered by cramp. He rallied from 0-3 to serve for the match at 6-5, but Dzumhur found a late surge to ultimately prevail 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(4) and book a second-round appointment with fourth seed Nuno Borges.

Meanwhile, both Alex Molcan and Stefanos Sakellaridis enjoyed a double taste of victory on Tuesday, when they each completed a rain-delayed final-round qualifying win before also claiming a main-draw triumph.

Molcan had led Jay Clarke 4-1 overnight and went on to save a match point before prevailing 6-3, 5-7, 7-6(4) to qualify for the main draw. The former Top 50 star then returned to court in the evening to down Matteo Arnaldi 6-3, 6-1 in his first-round match. Molcan, who is making his Bucharest debut this year, will next take on top seed Gabriel Diallo.

Sakellaridis turned a 5-2 overnight lead in his final qualifying match against Dimitar Kuzmanov into a 6-3, 7-6(6) victory, before later easing past Jan Choinski for a second-round spot. The Greek’s 6-3, 6-4 triumph against Choinski was his first tour-level win outside of Davis Cup play since he memorably upset Zizou Bergs as an 803-ranked 18-year-old at the 2023 United Cup.

Third seed Fabian Marozsan will be Sakellaridis' next opponent in Bucharest, where seventh seed Mariano Navone, eighth seed Botic van de Zandschulp and Alexander Shevchenko were among the other winners from the 12 first-round matches on Tuesday’s schedule. Navone downed Christopher O’Connell 6-4, 7-6(8), Van de Zandschulp defeated Francesco Maestrelli 6-3, 6-2 and Shevchenko downed wild card Radu David Turcanu 6-2, 6-4.