Mark Lajal gets grass court season off to winning start in Birmingham
Estonia's top tennis player Mark Lajal beat Switzerland's number 2 Leandro Riedi in straight sets at the ATP Challenger 125 tournament in Birmingham, England.
This was Lajal's first grass-court competitive match this season. The tournament, also known as the Birmingham Open, takes place at the Edgbaston Priory Club and is one of several warmers for Wimbledon, starting near the end of this month.
Aged 23 and ranked 157th in the world, Lajal and Riedi, a year older and 37 spots above the Estonian in the ATP listings, traded service games early on in the match, with Lajal narrowly in front until the score reached 3–2. At that point, Lajal secured his first service break, going on to close out the set 6–2.
Riedi started strongly and broke serve at the start of the second set and also won the following game, soon going up 4–1. However, the Estonian responded superbly by winning the next four games in a row. Things ultimately headed for a tie-break, where Lajal claimed the first six points and eventually sealed a 6–2, 7–6 (1) overall win.
Lajal served up 11 aces and committed two double faults to Riedi's seven and six.
Lajal also made just 17 unforced errors compared with his opponent's 31, and converted five of his eight break-point opportunities.
Lajal will face either New Zealander James Watt (ATP No. 717) or Britain's Harry Wendelken (ATP No. 227) in round two in Birmingham.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte, Kristjan Kallaste
