And then there were four: Vatutin, Guinard, Trungelliti and Alvarez through to main draw

At close of play today, four competitors can be confirmed after having have fought their way through the qualifying event into the first round of the main draw of Gijón Open ATP 250.

First up was top seed Carlos Taberner, who was back on centre court less than 24 hours after his marathon win yesterday, which saw the Valencian grind out a win in over three hours. Despite their best efforts to throw as much support behind the local player, the 2500-strong crowd could not lift a fatigued Taberner, who faced a fresh and nimble Vatutin. The seventh seed took the match 6-2 6-2 in an hour and a quarter.

Up next were two matches played simultaneously; another Spaniard Nikolas Sánchez Izquierdo took to the bull-ring to face off against Frenchman Manuel Guinard. From the brink of defeat, the Frenchman dug deep to dash local hopes once again and post a three-set win, 6-4 5-7 6-4. Meanwhile over on court 1, sixth-seeded Argentine Marco Trungelliti posted a straight sets win over another French player, Titouan Droguet.

Friday's final match saw the third Spaniard of the day take to the court. Nicolas Alvarez Varona (pictured) faced Italy’s Lorenzo Giustino, and became sole Spaniard to qualify for the main draw. After his three-set tussle yesterday, he won 6-2 6-2 against the Italian in just over an hour to extend his stay in Gijón. This will be Alvarez Varona's his second ATP main draw appearance, after having also qualified for the Barcelona tournament earlier this year.

Qualifying day 2 results (winners through to main draw):

[7] Alexey Vatutin def. [1] Carlos Taberner (ESP) 6-2 6-2 
[2] Manuel Guinard (FRA) def.  [8] Nikolás Sánchez-Izquierdo (ESP) 4-6 7-5 7-5
[6] Marco Trungelliti (ARG) def. Titouan Droguet (FRA) 6-3 6-2
[5] Nicolás Álvarez Varona (ESP) def. Lorenzo Giustino (ITA) 6-2 6-2

Photo: Gijón Open