ISMANING, October 17, 2018

In his first ATP Challenger main draw match, World No. 1575 Christian Seraphim has notched up his first win. The 23-year-old German wild card entry fought past Gianluca Mager of Italy 7-6(5), 7-6(5) in the opening round of the WOLFFKRAN Open on Wednesday.

Seraphim, who played college tennis at Wake Forest University, could count on his serve in the tie-break of each set. He fired 13 aces, winning 80 per cent of his first service points to prevail after one hour and 29 minutes. Seraphim will next challenge in-form Frenchman Ugo Humbert. The No. 2 seed lifted his second ATP Challenger trophy in Ortisei last Sunday and started his Ismaning campaign with a 7-6(1), 6-3 victory over compatriot Tristan Lamasine. The encounter lasted one hour andn 28 minutes.

Later in the evening, the tournament’s No. 1 and last year’s runner-up Lorenzo Sonego of Italy lost his first round match against Pedro Cachín of Argentina 7-5, 4-6, 4-6. The 23-year-old from Bell Ville capitalized on all of his three break point chances to seal victory in two hours and three minutes. Cachín will next play Daniel Masur of Germany.