Led by a four man South Australian contingent, day 1 of the City of Onkaparinga ATP Challenger 2015 saw eight singles qualifying matches completed in warm and blustery conditions.
Happy Valley Tennis Club’s very own Sam Longhurst struck the first ball of the tournament and got off to a good start taking the first set 6-3, before Andrew Harris (AUS) took the second and third sets 6-4 6-2 respectively to move into the second round.
In an all-South Australian affair, Darren Polkinghorne defeated Mislav Bosnjak in a close match 3-6 6-1 6-2, whilst fellow South Aussie Daniel Hobart, who earned his first ATP point in 2014, was defeated by Thailand’s Sanchai Ratiwatana 6-2 6-3.
In other matches, Andrew Wittington (AUS) defeated Yannick Mertens (BEL) 7-6(5) 6-7(0) 6-3 to set up a second round clash with number one seed, Stefano Travaglia (ITA), whilst Sonchat Ratiwatana (THA) defeated Levente Godry (HUN) 6-1 7-6(9).
Christopher O’Connell (AUS) overcame fellow Australian Marc Polmans (AUS) 7-6(10) 6-3, while in the bottom quarter of the draw, Jacob Grills (AUS) defeated Jules Marie (FRA) 6-4 6-2 and Roman Safiullin (RUS) was too strong for Mao-Xin Gong (CHN) 7-6(4) 7-6(1).
All seeded players moved directly through to the second round, with these matches to be played tomorrow starting at 10:00am.
Singles qualifying draw, singles main draw and order of play for Sunday 4 January now available at: http://www.tennis.com.au/tournaments/pro-tournaments/australian-pro-tour/happy-valley
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