Tennis players Daniil Glinka, Mark Lajal both pull out of French tournament
Estonia's top two men's tennis players Daniil Glinka and Mark Lajal both entered the ATP Challenger 100 tournament in Thionville, France.
On Tuesday evening, Glinka lost the opening set of his round one clash 6:3 to local player Hugo Gaston, 96th in the world, and was 4:2 down in set two when he opted to withdraw.
Lajal, who has had a spate of health issues lately, pulled out ahead of the Thionville tournament starting.
Lajal, 22, ranked 149th in the world, and Glinka, 25, ranked 176th by the ATP, had faced each other in an all-Estonian clash last month, also in France, at the ATP Challenger 125 tournament in Pau. However, that time Lajal retired in the second set, citing unspecified health issues, handing the win to Glinka.
Lajal's coach Karl Kiur Saar more recently told the portal tennisnet.ee: "Mark's year has started in a complicated way and he hasn't played a single tournament completely healthy yet. Considering that the season is long, it was sensible to withdraw and give the body some rest."
Lajal had traveled from Namibia to compete in the Pau tournament. He had been in the southwestern African nation to take part in a Davis Cup clash for Estonia.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte, Maarja Värv
