Tennis: Nam earns promising start at Vietnam F5 Futures

Vietnam’s No. 1 tennis star Ly Hoang Nam earned a promising start at the Vietnam F5 Futures 2018 after beating Lukas Ollert of Germany 7-6(3) 6-1 in the first round of the men’s singles on October 30.

Vietnam’s top tennis player Ly Hoang Nam starts the Vietnam F5 Futures tournament promisingly in his hometown after beating Lukas Ollert of Germany in the first round of the men’s singles on October 30. (Photo courtesy to Vietnam Tennis Federation)
Vietnam’s top tennis player Ly Hoang Nam starts the Vietnam F5 Futures tournament promisingly in his hometown after beating Lukas Ollert of Germany in the first round of the men’s singles on October 30. (Photo courtesy to Vietnam Tennis Federation)

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The No. 3 seed, ranked 476th in the ATP rankings, saw off his 717th ranked rival after one hour and 23 minutes of playing in his hometown in the southern province of Tay Ninh.

The underdog European player made Nam fight hard in the first set as he unexpectedly earned a break in the fifth game and was ahead of Nam by 3-2.

However, Nam, who claimed runner-up spot at the freshly wrapped up Vietnam F4 Futures, won break again to equalise 5-5 and put the game into a dramatic tie-break series. Thanks to Lukas’s constant mistakes, the 21-year-old Tay Ninh native finished the first set with the score of 7-6 (7-3).

The local dry weather with temperatures of up to 33C in Tay Ninh was not in favour of the Germany player. Lukas was exhausted in set 2 and quickly fell to a wide defeat of 1-6 to Nam.

The next opponent for Nam in the second round will be Kunal Anand of India, who beat his fellow Indian Aryan Goveas 6-4 7-6(3).

Ly Hoang Nam targets the men’s singles title at the Vietnam F5 Futures - Hai Dang Cup 2018 in his hometown province of Tay Ninh. (Photo courtesy to Vietnam Tennis Federation)

The same day, two local players, Trinh Linh Giang and Nguyen Dac Tien, could not cause a surprise against their European rivals. Giang lost 0-6 3-6 to Britain Harris Billy, while Tien quickly fell to a 3-6 2-6 defeat to No. 2 seed Swedish Markus Eriksson.

No. 1 seed, defending champion at Vietnam F4 Futures, Roman Safiullin of Russia needed more than an hour to beat American Paul C. Oosterbaan 6-3 7-5 in round 1.

In the men’s double event, two host pairs, Dac Tien - Quoc Vinh and Quoc Khanh - Linh Giang, were forced to say goodbye to the tournament after the round of 16 a day earlier.

Tomorrow morning, Nam will pair with Safiullin to face Karl Friberg - Lukas Ollert, while Vietnamese Bui Tri Nguyen will couple with Timothy Phung from the US to encounter Kunal Anand - Goran Markovic in the next matches of men’s doubles first round.