Lajal had last been in competition in early March, when he withdrew from an ATP Challenger 100 tournament in Thionville, France. This followed health issues in the early part of 2026.

Lajal, ranked 164th in the world, beat Thailand's Maximus Jones, ranked 270 spots below him by the ATP, in three sets, 7:5, 5:7, 7:6 (6) in an epic that lasted nearly three hours.

The Estonian took an early lead in the first set with a break, only to be broken himself in the next game. He broke again at the end of the set to take it 7:5. In the second set, Jones was 4:2 up when play was suspended due to rain.

Lajal came back fighting after the weather break, winning three straight games to go up 5:4, only to lose the next three in a row, giving Jones the set with a 7:5 scoreline.

In the decider, Jones earned the first service break after prevailing in a long seventh game. Lajal had as many as four game points presented to him in that one game, but the Thai converted his first break point opportunity.

Again, Lajal broke back in the next game, and after an evenly contested stretch, the set went to a tie-break. After initially falling behind 5:3, Lajal soon found himself 6:5 down, with a light at the end of the tunnel for Jones.

However, the Estonian dug in to take the next three points in a row, to secure the hard-fought win.

Lajal hit nine aces and committed two double faults during the match, compared with four and three for Jones.

Both players had seven break-point opportunities and each converted four of them.
Lajal faces Taiwan's Yu Hsiou Hsu (ATP No. 218) in round two. The tournament's sixth seed, Hsu won a walkover after U.S. player Murphy Cassone conceded in the second set with things at 4:3, having lost the first 6:3.

Lajal and Hsu have met on court before, last July, in the semifinals of a Challenger tournament in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. Lajal won that encounter convincingly, 6:3, 6:0, going on to win the tournament and his second challenger-level silverware of his career so far.

Daniil Glinka exits after one match in Savannah, Georgia

Meanwhile Estonia's second-highest ranked men's player, Daniil Glinka, lost on clay in the first round of the Savannah Challenger in Georgia, despite being third seed.

The Estonian had last week reached the quarter finals of the ATP Challenger 75 level tournament in Tallahassee, Florida,but had to admit defeat to 17-year-old Jack Kennedy (ATP 864th).

Glinka, ranked 178th, was forced to concede after a match lasting just over two hours, going down 6:2, 6:3 to U.S. player Stefan Kozlov (ATP No. 256).

Glinka got the match off to a good start with an early break of serve, but his opponent broke straight back and, with another break, managed to take a 4:1 lead. The second set began with both players exchanging breaks,; the decisive moment came in game eight, when Kozlov broke Glinka's serve once again.

Over the entire match, Glinka converted only three of his 12 break-point opportunities and, alongside 14 winners, recorded as many as 51 unforced errors.

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