Estonian tennis player Mark Lajal out of Cincinnati Open
Top Estonian tennis player Mark Lajal, in his debut ATP Masters 1000 level tournament encounter, lost in three sets in a rain-disrupted match to France's Arthur Cazaux, in Cincinnati, one of the main warm-up tournaments for this month's U.S. Open.
Lajal, who recently won the second ATP Challenger trophy of his career in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, is now ranked 147th in the world; Cazaux is 72 spots above him in the ATP listings. Cazaux is also a top seed for the Cincinnati tournament.
The match started Tuesday well enough for the Estonian, who took the first set 6–4. However, rain stopped play early on in set two, with the Frenchman one game to love in the lead.
The match resumed Wednesday, and while Lajal held his serve in the first game to be played, he lost five games in a row and so also the set, 6–1.
In the deciding set, Lajal was presented with a break point to go up 2–0, but his opponent managed to save it, then immediately broke Lajal's serve in the next game.
Cazaux repeated the feat in game seven, by which time he had a 5–2 lead. He then held his own serve to win the match, thus winning 4–6, 6–1, 6–2.
The entire, interrupted encounter lasted two hours and ten minutes.
Lajal converted only two of the eight break points presented to him, compared with five out of ten by Cazaux.
Cazaux served up 18 aces to the Estonian's five; both players made committed double faults.
Lajal is next in action at the qualifiers for the U.S. Open itself, starting August 18.
Glinka wins in Poland
Meanwhile, Estonia's men's tennis number two, Daniil Glinka (ATP 371st), earned a hard-fought victory in round two of the main draw at the ATP Challenger 75 tournament held in Grodzisk Mazowiecki, Poland, making the quarterfinals.
Having reached the main draw through qualification, Glinka beat 22-year-old local wildcard Maks Kasnikowski (ATP 528th) 7:6 (7), 6:4 in a match that lasted nearly two hours.
This will be Glinka's third Challenger quarterfinal of the year and the fifth of his career, meaning he will have reached a career furthest progression at that level, depending on how things go in the quarterfinals.
In that round, he will face another Pole, the top-seeded Kamil Majchrzak (ATP 81), who beat his compatriot, 19-year-old Tomasz Berkleta (ATP 650), in straight sets, 6:3, 6:2, in round two.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte, Maarja Värv
