IRVING, March 15, 2016
The ATP Challenger Tour returns to Texas for the $125,000 BMW Of Dallas Irving Tennis Classic with the second round of the qualifying played on Monday.
The favourites advanced to the final round, as top-seed Giovanni Lapentti defeated Vincent Thierry Schneider 6-4, 6-4 in one hour and 15 minutes and number two Jason Jung ousted Tomas Charlos 6-0, 6-3 in 64 minutes.
Two time Grand Slam doubles champion Philipp Petzschner also made it to the final stage of the qualifying beating third seed Nicolaas Scholtz 6-4, 6-2 in 76 minutes. The 31-year-old German will take on Ryan Haviland for a spot in the main draw.
The main draw is led by world number 38 Guillermo Garcia-López, one of three top 50-players. The Spaniard will face Marco Cecchinato in the opening round. Second seed Gilles Muller entered the field with a wild card and will play a qualifier to start his Irving title bid.
The tournament’s number three Lukas Rosol will also a face a qualifier and fourth seed Aljaz Bedene will meet Rogerio Dutra Silva, who finished runner-up at last week’s Cachantun Cup in Santiago, losing the final to Facundo Bagnis.
Mischa Zverev takes on sixth Dennis Kudla in the opening round and told: “I’m always happy to be home and be able to play a tournament. It’s a challenger, but it’s a very tough event and there are a lot of great players, so I consider it as an ATP event. It’s nice to have all the friends around and be home, sleep in your own bed, and hopefully I can do well.”
Dmitry Tursonov received a wild card to face Donald Young: “You could say it’s an ATP tournament. It’s very strong for a challenger, but it makes sense because a lot of people come for a very long time to the United States, so they play Indian Wells and Miami and there’s nothing in between, so there’s not much else to do but to play this event. It’s very good for the event, and also the organization is top notch. I mean, you have a very good facility, you have a really good gym, a really good hotel, so I think it’s a very good week for the players. That’s why they come here,” the Russian said during practice sessions.
