Aljaz Bedene signs to play Umag, challenging Borna Coric and Fabio Fognini
Established in 1990, the ATP Tour included the new countries that didn't have the opportunity to stage the world's leading tennis players before. Yugoslavia was among those and they choose Umag as the perfect destination for their inaugural ATP event. Located on Croatia’s Istrian peninsula, Umag is one of the most beautiful places on the Adriatic coast and it has always been the favorite stops in the calendar for many players, including Thomas Muster and Carlos Moya. The home players Goran Ivanisevic and Goran Prpic had led the first edition and they reached the final, with Prpic prevailing 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 to become the inaugural Umag champion.
The 30th edition of the Plava Laguna Croatia Open Umag will take place between July 15-21 and, as usual, the crowd will have the opportunity to see some exciting exhibition matches to keep themselves entertained in between serious battles for the ATP trophy. On July 17, Ivanisevic will face Patrick Rafter in the repeat of that famous 2001 Wimbledon final that Goran won 9-7 in the fifth set on "People's Monday." Four days earlier, Ivanisevic and Prpic will compete against each other to celebrate a significant anniversary and that first Umag final from 29 years ago.
After Borna Coric and Monte Carlo champion Fabio Fognini, the organizers have announced the third name that would fight for the title in Umag, with Aljaz Bedene making the ninth consecutive trip to Istra since 2011. Triglav Lab in the Slovenian capital of Ljubljana (Triglav osiguranje has been the sponsor in Umag for years) served as the place for Bedene's introduction, with the Slovenian top-100 player hoping for a good run and the best result since 2013 when he played in the quarter-final after wins over Boy Westerhof and Alexandr Dolgopolov.
from Tennis World USA http://bit.ly/2En3lUH
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