Estonia's top 2 men's tennis players drawn against each other in France tournament
Estonia's top two men's players have been drawn against each other in round one of the Pau Challenger 125 in southwestern France.
The pair, who have never met competitively on court in an official competition before, are both ranked in the top 200, in Glinka's case thanks to a symphonic cycle of performances in the latter half of last year and at the start of this year.
Lajal, ranked 158th by the ATP, has just been in Namibia, where he was instrumental in Estonia's 4:0 Davis Cup World Group II playoff tie victory over the host nation. Glinka, ranked just nine places below him, took a two-week break after his strong performances in Portugal last month, but is heading for Pau too.
While this means only one Estonian can reach round two, it at least almost guarantees, injuries and withdrawals aside, an Estonian will be in that round.
The winner of the all-Estonian round one clash, due to take place Monday, could meet Kazakh player Aleksandr Shevchenko, currently ranked 87th by the ATP and with a career high ranking of 45th, set in 2024. Shevkchenko is Kazakhstan's highest-ranking men's player and its second-highest ranking player, after last month's Australian Open winner Elena Rybakina. Shevchenko himself reached round two in Australia, a feat he had already managed at four other grand slam events in his career.
However to meet either Lajal or Glinka, he will still have to overcome Clement Chedekh (ATP 202) in round one, the latter playing before a home crowd, relatively speaking as he is from the other side of southern France (Arles).
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Editor: Andrew Whyte, Anders Nõmm
