In the first day of plenty of match-ups on the Challenger Tour, there were a number of results that defied ranking positions. This is often not too surprising at the beginning of the season, as many players lack match fitness and though they may have trained all off-season, will still be a little rusty.
Noumea:
(5) Kenny De Schepper defeats Jose Hernandez-Fernandez 4-6, 6-3, 6-1. The tall Dutchman De Schepper struggled against a player whose best results almost exclusively come on clay. Though De Schepper is also rather effective on clay, he is more versatile across all surfaces, and it showed here in the last two sets, dropping just four games as the fifth seed avoided an early exit.
Cameron Norrie defeats (3) Duckhee Lee 6-4, 6-4. An excellent win for a young Briton who has gone under the radar somewhat in recent years. Following the successes of Dan Evans, James Ward, and Liam Broady (at times), Norrie at just twenty-one pulled off one of the best wins of his career. Lee, despite moving into the Top 150 at the back end of last year still retains the inconsistency that sees him lose to lowly ranked players at times.
Stefanos Tsitsipas defeats Guilherme Clezar 6-3, 7-5. Not a surprising result. Like Hernandez-Fernandez Clezar best results come on clay, with meagre performances on other surfaces. The eighteen year-old Tsitsipas is predicted to do big things in 2017, and could break into the Top 200 with a couple more wins more wins here.
Tristan Lamasine defeats (6) Dennis Novikov 6-4, 7-6. Novikov continues his miserable run that started in the second half of 2016, where he lost early in many of the American Challengers. Lamasine saved all six break points he faced, and breaking on his single opportunity in the first set.
(8) Matthias Bourgue defeats Mitchell Krueger 6-1 6-4. Well negotiated by Bourgue, as the inconsistent Krueger has the capacity to defeat seeded players when in the mood.
Other results: Nikola Milojevic defeats Andre Ghem 6-3, 6-3.
Adrian Menendez Macieras defeats (7) Stefano Napolitano 7-6, 6-4.
Happy Valley:
Ruben Bemelmans defeats (1) Donald Young 6-4, 2-6, 7-6. A blow to Donald Young, whose form could soon see him drop out of the Top 100. The Belgian who many will remember for an entertaining match against Andy Murray in the 2015 Davis Cup Final was always the toughest first round match up for the seeds in this event, and so it has proved.
(3) Denis Kudla defeats Uladzimir Ignatik 2-6, 6-4, 6-4. In 2015 Denis Kudla was in the fourth round of Wimbledon having beaten Pablo Cuevas and Alexander Zverev. Now ranked 131, the American struggled in this match. Blown away in the first set, and quickly pegged back after he broke first in the second, the third seed fought hard to defeat his Belorussian opponent.
Omar Jasika defeats (5) Norbert Gombos 6-2, 6-7, 7-5. Arguably the shock of the day on the Challenger Tour. I was critical of Jasika in my profile of Alex De Minaur, but this result is arguably the best of his career. Gombos rebounded from a tough first three quarters of 2016 to win two Challengers late in the year. However, the tall Slovak was ousted here by the young Aussie whose potential has never been doubted, but whose consistency has never seen progress.
(4) Peter Polansky defeats Marc Polmans 6-1 4-6 6-4. The Canadian Polansky has returned from injury to become a solid Challenger player once again, but was tested by the young Aussie.The nineteen year-old took the second set before going down in a tight fourth.
(8) Marton Fucsovics defeats Marcelo Arevalo 6-1 3-6 6-3. I predicted a win for Arevalo here, and though he lost, he gave the eighth seed a tough match. The match hinged on break point conversions, as Fucsovics was able to convert four times from just six chances, an excellent conversion rate.
Matthias Bachinger defeats (2) Joao Souza 6-7, 6-4, 6-3. Unsurprising as Souza is a clay specialist, and though Bachinger has had his injury troubles, his serve is excellent. Souza failed to break from just two chances, winning his set in a tie break. The score could have been far more convincing, as Bachinger only went three for thirteen on break opportunities in the match, though it proved to be enough in the end.
Other results: Uchiyama defeats McGee 6-0 6-4
Gojowczyk defeats Tepavac 6-4 6-4
Coppejans defeats Bublik 3-6 6-2 6-3
Saville defeats Purcell 4-6 6-3 6-3.
Bolt defeats Ito 6-3 6-2.
Brands defeats Mott 7-6 6-7 6-4
Ivashka defeats Satral 6-3 6-4
De Loore defeats Djere 6-2 6-3
