BENDIGO/STARNBERG, January 3, 2022
The 2022 season on the ATP Challenger Tour has kicked off with the fourth edition of the Bendigo International hosted by the Bendigo Tennis Association in Bendigo, a city in Victoria, Australia, located in the Bendigo Valley near the geographical centre of the state and approximately 150 kilometres north-west of Melbourne.
Main draw action of the $58,320 hard-court event began Monday with US-American Michael Mmoh celebrating a 4-6, 6-3, 6-0 first-round comeback victory over Mikael Torpegaard of Denmark. The World No. 239 from Florida sent down four aces and won 73 per cent of his first-service points to prevail after one hour and 51 minutes.
Mmoh, a winner of five ATP Challenger tournaments and all of them captured on home soil, will next take on fourth-seeded Frenchman Quentin Halys.
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German veteran Michael Bachinger also overcame a slow start into the new year by fighting past Mohamed Safwat of Egypt. The 34-year-old Munich native won 4-6, 7-6(3), 7-6(4) in almost two and a half hours to set a second-round clash with World No. 138 and the tournament’s top seed Nikola Milojevic of Serbia on Wednesday.
In the bottom half of the draw, No. 2 seed Cem Ilkel will open his 2022 campaign against Vit Kopriva. The 24-year-old from the Czech Republic beat Ruben Bemelmans of Belgium 6-4, 6-4 in one hour and 21 minutes.
After a first-round bye, third seed Hugo Grenier awaits Italian Lorenzo Giustino, who edged past unranked Australian lucky loser Charlie Camus 7-6(2), 6-3. The encounter lasted 75 minutes.
