SALINAS/STARNBERG, July 25, 2023

The ATP Challenger Tour is back in Ecuador with the $80,000 Challenger de Salinas Copa Banco Guayaquil, being held this week on the hard courts of the the Salinas Golf & Tennis Club.

Dane Sweeny opened his title bid with a hard-fought 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 first-round victory over fellow Australian Li Tu. The No. 5 seed capitalized on eight of his 16 break-point chances and won 52 per cent of the total points played to prevail after two hours and 18 minutes.

#ChallengerdeSalinas Copa @BancoGuayaquil 1ra ronda highlights:
Dane Sweeny AUS a Li Tu AUS
Illya Marchenko UKR a Omni Kumar. pic.twitter.com/C2VctPiWyN

— Challenger de Salinas (@SalinasOpenEc) July 25, 2023

Up next for the 22-year-old Penrith native will be either Tristan Schoolkate of Australia or Croatian qualifier Matija Pecotic.

Fourth-seeded Japanese Kaichi Uchida also advanced to the second round. The World No. 217 overcame Christian Lagmo from the United States 7-6(6), 0-6, 6-0 in one hour and 45 minutes and will now play Altug Celikbilek of Turkey.

Monday Results

Singles – First Round

Beibit Zhukayev KAZ def. Pedro Boscardin BRA  6-3, 6-4

Altug Celikbilek TUR def. Aidan Mayo USA  6-4, 6-2

Alex Bolt AUS def. Ángel Díaz ECU  7-5, 7-6(2)

Kaichi Uchida JPN def. Christian Langmo USA  7-6(6), 0-6, 6-0

Illya Marchenko UKR def. Omni Kumar USA  3-6, 6-3, 6-4

Dane Sweeny AUS def. Li Tu AUS 6-4, 4-6, 6-2