Five of the top 10 seeds progress comfortably at Fuzion 100 Ilkley Trophy

Tennis News

Tuesday of the Fuzion 100 Ilkley Trophy proved a difficult day for British wild cards against tough opposition while the five of the top 10 seeds progressed comfortably in the ATP Challenger tournament.

In the opening round at the Ilkley Lawn Tennis and Squash Club, George Loffhagen was beaten by Japan’s Hiroki Moriya, Alex Ward lost to Italian third seed Thomas Fabbiano and Aidan McHugh went out to Kazakhstan’s Alexander Bublik.

Meanwhile, No 1 seed Jordan Thompson, second Jurgen Zopp, fifth seed Peter Polansky and seventh seed Michael Mmoh all moved into the second round.

Qualifier Noah Rubin from the United States served up the surprise of the day, defeating No 4 seed Ilya Ivashka of Belarus 6-2, 6-4.

Earlier in the day, the remaining women’s qualifying matches were played, with Tereza Smitkova, Bianca Andreescu, Abigail Tere-Apisah and Maria Sanchez all qualifying for the ITF Pro Circuit main draw. Smitkova will take on Italian Deborah Chiesa, Tere-Apisah will take on Swiss No 2 seed Belinda Bencic and Sanchez will face Russian No 7 seed Ekaterina Alexandrova.

The only British woman on court on Tuesday was wild card Gabriella Taylor; however she fell to Ukrainian Dayana Yastremska 6-1, 6-3 in the first round.

But British success came on Centre Court when wild cards Liam Broady and Scott Clayton defeated experienced twin brothers Sanchai and Sonchat Raitwatana in straight sets 7-6(6), 6-4. Broady and Clayton will face No 3 seeds Purav Raja of India and John-Patrick Smith of Australia fourth on Centre Court on Wednesday.

And while there was disappointment for British pair Luke Johnson and Jack Findel-Hawkins,who lost to Jonathan Eysseric and Hugo Nys 7-6(4), 7-6(3), Nature Valley Open Nottingham doubles champions Brit Joe Salisbury and Danish partner Frederik Nielsen defeated no.1 seeds Marcelo Arevalo and Hans Podlipnik-Castillo 6-3, 6-3.

Wednesday’s action will also have top seeds Kaia Kanepi and Belinda Bencic both in action for a place in round two, with No 1 seed Kanepi taking on Brit Maia Lumsden first on Centre Court and second seed Bencic face Abigail Tere-Apidah from Papua New Guinea second on Court 2.

Tickets are still available here: https://www.theticketfactory.com/ltaci/online/

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