Lama and Garín exit in Royal Guard Open

Gonzalo Lama and Christian Garín were defeated as Chilean singles interest in the Royal Guard Open came to a swift end.

Viña del Mar – It was always going to be tough for the two wildcards after they were drawn against the defending champion Horacio Zeballos and number five seed Jeremy Chardy respectively.

Lama was first into the fray against Argentinian Zeballos, who famously beat Rafael Nadal in last year´s final. On his ATP debut, Lama showed flashes of the form that has seen him surge up the rankings to 289 over the last year.

He produced some excellent winners and showed he could mix it with the higher-ranked Zeballos (67). However, the reigning champion had a bit too much in his locker for the 20-year-old and ran out a comfortable 6-3, 6-3 winner in just over an hour.

Next up was 17-year-old Garín (379), who had the chance to avenge last year´s defeat at the hands of the experienced Chardy (44). Last time, Garín took a set off the Frenchman, but he wasn´t so fortunate on this occasion.

Chardy took a tight first set 7-5 and then raced away with the second set 6-0 to win in one hour 14 minutes.

Garín teams up with Nicolás Jarry in the doubles later today against second seeds Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah, of Colombia. The winners advance to the semi-finals.

However, Lama is out of the doubles. He lost, along with compatriot Juan Carlos Saez, to Italians Daniele Bracciali and Potito Starace 6-0, 3-6, 10-6.

Meanwhile, there were a couple of shocks in the singles yesterday. Second seed Tommy Robredo (16) crashed out in three sets against Argentina´s Leonardo Mayer (91), 3-6, 7-6 (8), 6-4.

It proved a frustrating afternoon for the Spaniard as he squandered four match points in the second set tie-break.

Compatriot Marcel Granollers (35), the fourth seed, was also sent packing. He lost 7-6, 7-6 to Colombian Santiago Giraldo (71).