Mark Lajal through to round two qualifier at ATP250 tournament in the Netherlands
Estonia's top-ranked player Mark Lajal won his first qualifier at the ATP 250-level grass-court tournament in 's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands, beating Corentin Denolly (France) in straight sets, 6–2, 6–1.
Denolly is ranked 300th in the world, exactly 100 places below Lajal; the Estonian was also seeded eighth in qualifying.
Lajal won 79 percent of points on his first serve during the hour-long match, one of the first grass tournaments of the season, and did not face a single break point.
The Frenchman committed 29 unforced errors and hit 11 winners; Lajal, who won nine out of ten net points, made 20 unforced errors.
Lajal next faces second-seeded American Reilly Opelka, who at the peak of his career was ranked inside the world's top 20, in the second and last round of qualifying.
The 211cm tall serving machine overcame Kazakhstan's Denis Yevseyev 6–1, 7–6 (6) in his qualifying opener and recorded 16 aces in the process.
The top seed in the main draw at 's-Hertogenbosch is world No. 11 Daniil Medvedev.
Lajal famously gave a good account of himself against then-world number three Carlos Alcaraz (Spain) in round one of last year's Wimbledon Championships. At Roland Garros on Sunday, the Spaniard saved two match points to come from behind to defeat Jannik Sinner in the longest men's singles final in French Open history.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte
