The final week of the Challenger season continued with the two remaining events taking place in Italy and Japan.
Andria: So far only two seeds have fallen, as eighth seed Mirza Basic fell to local Roberto Marcora (a result predicted on this website yesterday). He joins Dustin Brown as the two seeds to depart after the first round. Luca Vanni nearly joined them. but recovered from a disastrous first set to beat Mikola Mektic 1-6, 6-3, 7-6. Dudi Sela had little trouble in defeating Adrien Bossel of Switzerland, dropping just two games in a 6-1, 6-1 win. Egor Gerasimov was the first to reach the quarter-finals, as he backed up his great win over Brown with a tough 6-7, 6-4, 7-6 win over Belgian qualifier Joris De Loore. He will face the winner of Petru-Alexandru Luncanu and second seed Illya Marchenko. Tere was disappointment for home favourite Andrea Arnaboldi, as he was dispatched by qualifier Ante Pavic 6-4, 6-2.
Picks in bold. Michael Berrer backtracked on a decision to retire, and won his first round match in Andria. He faces local Matteo Viola later Wednesday. Roberto Marcora vs Gianluca Mager is sure to draw a large home crowd, before Marchenko and Luncanu highlight the final singles match of the day.
Toyota: Greg Jones was unable to take advantage of top seed Matthew Ebden’s retirement in his last match, as he was beaten in the second round by Japanese wildcard Sho Katayama 7-5, 7-6. Another seed was beaten as James Duckworth lost to the very in-form Alexander Kudryavtsev 7-6, 6-3. The battle of two players from Taiwan saw Jason Jung, formerly of the United States, emerge the victor. It was a very tight win over compatriot Ti Chen, as Jung was forced to recover from a set down to win 4-6, 6-4, 7-6. Konstantin Kravchuck continued his serene progress with a straight sets win over a Japanese qualifier Itsuki Mina.
Thursday: Second seed Tatsumo Ito, now the highest seed remaining in the draw, highlights Thursday, as he takes on Yuya Kibi. Benjamin Mitchell and Yuichi Sugita are also due on court, they play first on Court 1. Yoshihito Nishioka is up first on Court 2, as he faces Shuichi Sekiguchi. Go Soeda vs South African Tucker Vorster finishes singles play on Court 2.
