On the first day of the Launceston Challenger there was one major shock as the second seed Jordan Thompson was defeated by countryman Matthew Barton in a close three-set match. Barton secured the eventual 7-5, 6-7, 6-4 victory in two hours and twenty-six minutes.
Barton’s win was the just the latest of a good start to the year for the twenty-four year-old who has already defeated the likes of Steve Johnson and Denis Kudla, both members of the Top 100.
Third seed Saketh Myneni of India avoided the same fate but it was a close thing against qualifier Marc Polmans. Myneni did eventually edge the Australian 7-6, 6-7, 6-3 in a match that also lasted more than two hours.
There were two Australian teenagers and a former junior number one also in action, though they enjoyed mixed fortunes. Eighteen year-old Omar Jasika, fresh off his first win at a Grand Slam main draw against Illya Marchenko, eased past Kento Takeuchi of Japan 6-3, 6-2.
Sixteen year-old Alexei Popyrin did not enjoy the same success, as he was beaten by a lucky loser from qualifying in Jarred Chaplin 7-5, 6-2. Former Junior No.1 Filip Peliwo of Canada did win though, as he defeated Finn Tearney of New Zealand 6-2, 6-3.
Fourth seed Alexander Sarkissian starts Tuesday’s play against Matt Reid, with enigmatic French veteran Stephane Robert also playing against Maverick Banes.
Other seeds including Luke Saville and Andrey Golubev also play. My matches of the day are Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece, a highly-touted youngster, against Briton Brydan Klein and Alex Bolt against Shuichi Sekiguchi. Bolt is trying to recover his top 200 ranking, and is in good form having beaten Jared Donaldson in Maui last week.
Selected matches with picks in bold:
Matt Reid vs (4) Alexander Sarkissian
Alex Bolt vs Shuichi Sekiguchi
(8) Andrey Golubev vs Gavin Van Peperzeel
(7) Luke Saville vs Harry Bouchier
Stefanos Tsitsipas vs (6) Brydan Klein
