Mark Lajal pulls off win in arduous clash with Russian player
Estonia's top-ranked tennis player Mark Lajal beat Russia's Aleksei Vatutin 2:6, 7:6 (3), 6:4 in a grueling round one match at the ATP Challenger 100 tournament in Brest, France.
In the opening set, Lajal, now ranked 147th in the world, won 47 percent of his first-serve points and was able to convert one of six break points, even though he dropped his first three service games.
Lajal pulled off five aces in the second set, and although he lost the third game without score, he broke back when trailing 4–5 in games, rescuing the set and match with a quick final game, winning six of the last seven points.
In the deciding set, Lajal went up 5:1 after breaking twice against Vatutin, ranked 384th in the world.
However, the Estonian then lost three games in a row. In the final, tenth game, the Russian had four break points in hand while Lajal missed two match points, only for the lights in the hall briefly went out during the decisive moments. Estonia's top player still managed to convert the third match point presented to him, to hang on for victory.
The entire encounter lasted two-and-a-half hours.
Lajal served up 12 aces, won 65 percent of points on his first serve and converted four of 14 break points, while Vatutin converted five of 15.
Lajal next faces the winner of the match between Czech qualifier Jonas Forejtek (ATP No. 455) and fifth-seeded American Eliot Spizzir (ATP No. 103).
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Editor: Andrew Whyte, Kristjan Kallaste
