The American Challenger swing gets underway in Maui this week, with a number of players who impressed in the early rounds of the Australian Open in action.
Noah Rubin drew praise from Roger Federer despite a straight sets defeat in the second round, whilst Hyeon Chung took a set from Grigor Dimitrov in round two, as did Ernesto Escobedo against David Ferrer.
Jared Donaldson, who suffered a disappointing exit in the first round after leading by two sets against Rogerio Dutra Silva, is the top seed and he starts against Alexander Sarkissian. Junior Wimbledon winner Denis Shapovalov also features.
Other high-profile encounters in the first round sees Ernesto Escobedo with a tough draw against Go Soeda.
Selected first round draw:
(1) Jared Donaldson vs Alexander Sarkissian
Austin Krajicek vs (5) Marco Chiudinelli
Noah Rubin vs Zhe Zhang
(6) Ernesto Escobedo vs Go Soeda
Tatsuma Ito vs (WC) Bradley Klahn
(8) Vasek Pospisil vs Michael Mmoh
Dennis Novikov vs (2) Hyeon Chung
- Bradley Klahn has missed most of the last two years due to injury, making a return late last year by reaching a Challenger quarter-final. He featured in Australian Open qualifying, losing in a tough three set match to the seeded Thomas Fabbiano. One to watch despite his need for a wildcard.
