The 30-year-old Santa Fe’s next rival will be Frenchman Alexandre Muller (238), who beat Italian Gabrielle Felline (unranked, special guest) by a wide 6-1 and 6-0.
Ficovich (206), meanwhile, prevailed over the experienced Spaniard Guillermo García López (215) by a comfortable 6-3 and 6-2 in one hour and 24 minutes of play.
The 23-year-old Argentine will play in the second round against Australian Christopher O’Conell (112), who beat Indian Ramkumar Ramanathan (199) 6-4, 6-2.
Another Argentine, Andrea Collarini (198), will play later in the opening round against Italian Andrea Arnaboldi (286).
In the case of winning, Collarini will find himself in the second round with the Slovenian Blaz Rola (148), who eliminated the top seed for the title, the Brazilian Thiago Seyboth Wild (107) from the tournament after beating him 7-6 (8-6 ) and 7-6 (7-3).
