BINGHAMTON, July 27, 2017

Top seed Jordan Thompson of Australia opened his title bid at the $75,000 Levene Gouldin & Thompson Tennis Challenger in Binghamton with 7-6, 6-4 jfirst round victory over Evan King from the United States on Wednesday.

The World No. 79 sent down seven aces, winning 87 per cent of his first service points to advance after one hour and 37 minutes. Thompson will next take on US-American wild card entry Alex Rybakov.

Eighth seed Blaz Rola defeated Alex Bolt from Australia 6-3, 6-2 to reach the quarterfinals. The 26-year-old Slovenian saved both break points he faced, converting three of his own to secure victory in only 59 minutes. Next up for Rola will be Carmeron Norrie from Great Britain.

The tourament’s number six Denis Kudla lost to fellow-US-American William Blumberg 3-6, 2-6 after just under one hour of play. Blumberg will next face Ze Zhang of China, who benefited from the retirement of fourth favourite Akira Santillan, leading 6-4, 4-1. The Australian suffered from a right shoulder injury.