Davis Cup stalwarts Peter Buldorini and Conor Gannon are in action today
along with starman Grigor Dimitrov
By Stephen Higgins
After his remarkable victory over a player more than 1,000 places higher
in the rankings, Ammar Elamin fell to the vastly experienced Thanasi
Kokkinakis in round two of qualifying on Monday.
But Irish interest in the Dublin Challenger does not end there as two
Davis Cup stalwarts take to the grass of Elm Park today.
Peter Buldorini, the Irish no.2, has received a wildcard into the main
draw and opens the play on Court 2 against Mees Rottgering of The
Netherlands. Simultaneously on Court 1, Conor Gannon will stand across
the net from a former Wimbledon quarter-finalist in Bernard Tomic.
Like Gannon, Buldorini comes home fresh from Davis Cup duty in Moldova,
where Ireland maintained their place in Group III after a relegation
play-off victory over Kosovo. The 21-year-old earned two singles points
from four matches there.
Of course Irish fans will warmly remember Peter’s heroic performance
against Syria in February, when he overcame significant cramp to defeat
Taym Al Azmeh in their singles rubber at UL.
Buldorini has continued to compete on the ITF and Challenger tour this
season and his best result so far was a semi-final berth at the Foggia
M15. In terms of ranking, he currently sits just inside the top 1000 at
no.991.
Peter’s opponent Mees Rottgering is a junior prodigy who finished
runner-up at Wimbledon in 2024 before becoming world no.1 the following
January. The Dutchman made his first senior ITF final at just 15 years
of age!
Now 18, Rottgering has had some significant results this year with two
ITF title wins and a highly impressive qualification for the ATP 250 in
Rotterdam. The Wanssum native has halved his ranking in the past 18
months and now sits just inside the world’s top 500.
Irish no.3 Conor Gannon comes to Elm Park after contributing three
singles points on Davis Cup duty in Moldova. Those wins should bring
some confidence to the 24-year-old who was used in a doubles capacity
during the prior ties with Syria and China.
Conor has been busy this season on the ITF tour with thirteen
tournaments since the turn of the year. His best results have come in
recent weeks with two quarter-final surges at Nottingham and Monastir.
Gannon is at a career high ranking of 1,085.
His opponent Bernard Tomic currently resides inside the ATP’s top 200,
but peaked at no.17 a decade ago. Now 33, the Australian was a junior
prodigy who won the Australian Open and US Open Boys’ events.
Over the course of a colourful career, Tomic has enjoyed some very
significant highs including four ATP titles, a run to the last eight of
Wimbledon in 2011, and wins over top ten players Marin Cilic, David
Ferrer and Kei Nishikori.
This season, Tomic has primarily played on the Challenger tour with
three quarter-final appearances so far. He comes to Dublin having lost
in the second round of qualifying for the ATP 250 in ‘s-Hertogenbosch.
Beyond the Irish interest, spectators and viewers of the ATP stream are
in for a stellar day of tennis at Elm Park.
The star man of the week, Grigor Dimitrov, will follow Gannon’s match on
Court 1 as he takes on Luxembourg’s Chris Rodesch. The former world no.3
is searching for some form ahead of a likely wildcard for Wimbledon
later this month.
Former Australian Open doubles champion Thanasi Kokkinakis and the
draw’s no.1 seed, Titouan Droguet, will round out the play on Court 1.
Elsewhere, seeds Jurij Rodionov (4), Mark Lajal (5) and Stefanos
Sakellaridis (6) will all be in action.
Finally, keep a look out for the recent junior world no.1 Ivan Ivanov of
Bulgaria, and the extremely talented Chinese qualifier Yi Zhou today.
