Tennis star Mark Lajal through to Sioux Falls quarter finals
Estonia's top-ranked tennis player Mark Lajal is through to the quarter-finals of the ATP 75 tennis tournament in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
Lajal (ATP 224) is one of only two non-Americans to make it to the quarter-finals, along with Borna Gojo (Croatia, ATP 422nd), and both players had to come through qualification.
He is seeded third for the tournament.
Lajal, 21, beat U.S. player Omni Kumar in round one. In round two, he defeated Zachary Svajda (U.S., ATP 163) in three sets, 3:6, 6:2, 6:0, in a match that lasted just over an hour and a half.
In the opening set, Svajda saved two break points in game three, going on to earn his first break point in game eight - which he immediately converted.
This proved enough to win the set.
However, Lajal managed to string together 10 game wins in a row across the latter two sets, taking both sets with a loss of just two games.
He served up nine aces and committed four double faults to Svajda's four and three.
Lajal converted five of the seven break points presented to him, while, Svajda only converted one out of three.
The Estonian's first-serve success rate was 56 percent and he won 75 percent of the points on his first serve, while Svajda's corresponding figures were 59 percent and 63 percent.
Lajal will face the competition's sixth seed, 24-year-old Patrick Kypson (U.S., ATP 173), who beat his compatriot Aidan Mayo 7:6 (5), 6:2 in round two.
The pair have never played each other competitively before.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte, Maarja Värv