TIBURON, September 25, 2016

The Wells Fargo Tiburon Challenger welcomed players in the Californian city, which is named for the leopard sharks that swim along its shorelines, for the first day of play at the nine-day $100,000 ATP Challenger event with the start of the qualifying on Saturday.

“Tennis was of the highest order right out of the blocks, with matches starting at 10 a.m. and finishing around 5:45 p.m.,” reported tournament director Brendan Curry.

Third seed Emilio Gomez defeated Lucas Renard 6-2, 6-4. The world number 254 from Ecuador converted four of his 12 break point chances to prevail in 74 minutes.

Greg Jones knocked out number four Lorenzo Sonego of Italy, winning 6-2, 6-7, 6-4. The 27-year-old Australian sent down six aces and broke his opponent’s serve six times to finish the encounter after two hours and eight minutes.

Cal Berkeley wild cards Filip Bergevi and Andre Goransson both advanced, as did Stanford number one Tom Fawcett. Goransson beat another qualifying wild card, Perry Gregg. Gregg, with 16 years the youngest player in the draw, played a strong match before going down in straight sets, but, said Curry, “Make no mistake, we’re sure to see more of him in the future.”

Men’s Qualifying Singles – First Round

[3] E. Gomez (ECU) d L. Renard (SWE) 62 64

G. Jones (AUS) d [4] L. Sonego (ITA) 62 67(5) 64

[5] L. Glasspool (GBR) d F. Nielsen (DEN) 57 61 64

E. Crepaldi (ITA) d [6] E. Eremin (ITA) 67(5) 64 60

[7] B. Klein (GBR) d A. Carter (USA) 46 62 61

[8] S. Caruso (ITA) d M. Reyes-Varela (MEX) 64 61

M. Reid (AUS) d B. Saraiva (POR) 61 62

C. Farren (USA) d [WC] S. Verbeek (NED) 63 75

[WC] A Goransson (SWE) d [WC] P. Gregg (USA) 62 64

M. Mmoh (USA) d L. Bambridge (GBR) 63 63

[WC] F. Bergevi (SWE) d M. Schnur (USA) 67(4) 75 61

T. Fawcett (USA) d M. Zincirli (TUR) 76(3) 61

D. Nevolo (USA) d J. Salisbury (GBR) 36 63 61

H. Hurkacz (POL) d J. Lamble (USA) 64 75