The top seed in Noumea, New Caledonia got his 2016 campaign off to an excellent start. Adrian Mannarino easily dismissed Italian Federico Gaio in straight sets 6-0, 6-4.
Mannarino was joined by the second, fifth and sixth seeds respectively, as there were no early shocks to found on Monday. Alejandro Falla’s match with American Mitchell Kreuger was the closest to result in a shock, as the American had stormed through the first set only to see Falla recover in an eventual for 1-6, 6-4, 6-4 victory. Blaz Rola and Jordan Thompson both secured their passage into with considerable winning their respectable matches over Luke Saville and Darian King for the loss of seven games apiece.
James McGee and Jan Mertl both progressed in straight sets, but it was a match between a pair of French wildcards that was the best of the day. Maxime Janvier managed to defeat Nicolas N’Godrela in a marathon match that latest just under three hours. The final score was 7-6, 5-7, 7-5. The match is already a contender to be the longest Challenger match of 2016 here in the first week.
The match of Tuesday is likely to be that of 4th seed Adrian Menedez Maceiras’ encounter with young Frenchman Quentin Halys. These two played out a close match in Segovia last year, with Maceiras eventually winning in the third. Halys has some good wins on the Challenger circuit in 2015, though his biggest came in Valencia Qualifying, where he ousted then No.98 Rajeev Ram in straight sets.
All eyes will also be on Julien Benneteau as he takes to court for the first time in nearly nine months. He starts against fellow Frenchman Florian Reynet.
Tuesdays singles matches (selected picks in bold)
Adrian Menendez Macieras vs Quentin Halys
Bastian Trinker vs Alessandro Giannessi
Florian Reynet vs Julien Benneteau
Maxime Chazal vs Edouard Roger-Vasselin
Isaac Frost vs Daniel Brands
Tristan Lamasine vs Stefan Napolitano
Marco Trungelliti vs Maximilian Marterer
Henri Laaksonen vs Mathias Bourgue
Jordi Samper-Montana vs Connor Smith
