Day 1, Argentina smiles Today the last matches of the 1st round

Waiting for the stars, the show at the P1 Premier in Mendoza was immediately of a high standard. And the Argentine audience at the Aconcagua Arena was thrilled by two all-Albicelestes pairs who made it through the first round. Wild cards Francisco Britos and Mauricio Alejandro Rivero defeated Spaniards José Carlos Gaspar and José Maria Mouliaa 6-2 4-6 6-2 (earning them a luxury pairing with Franco Stupaczuk and Martin Di Nenno), while qualifiers Facundo Rodrigo Luis Lopez and Juan Ignacio Rubini won 7-6 6-4 over Italian-Argentinian Emiliano Iriart and Spaniard Carlos Perez Cabeza. Testifying to the great balance on the first day of the P1 in Mendoza was the fact that five of the eight matches played ended in the third set.

Today (starting at 12 noon in Argentina, 5 p.m. in central Europe) the first round will be completed with the last eight matches, before the strongest players make their debut on Wednesday. Other Argentine pairs hope to live their day of glory: Gonzalo Gabriel Alfonso and Juani De Pascual will face the experienced Miguel Lamperti and the Italian-Argentine Denis Perino. There are also great expectations in Mendoza for the debut of youngsters Ivo Andenmatten and Felipe Calleja against Chilean Javier Valdes and Spaniard Jose David Sanchez. The match between two more Argentinians (Maximiliano Sanchez Blasco and Santiago Rolla) and two Italians, Martin Ariel Andornino and Juan Manuel Restivo, will finally designate the pair that will face no. 1 Juan Lebron and Ale Galan in the second round.