Similarly to his first match on Tuesday, Quentin Halys (ranked 115th) controlled his opponent, Vitaliy Sachko (ranked 222nd), 6-4, 6-4, to reach quarter final. He will be opposed on Friday to Zizou Bergs (ranked 186th), who captured the title last year, and who needed three sets to upset solid Laurent Lokoli (ranked 330th), 6-2, 3-6, 6-3. French player, coming from qualifyings, leaves Lille with honors, but also deep regrets since he was a break ahead in the final set before losing the last 4 games : “I was K.O. during three games, I can not remember anything… But there are positive things to retain of this tournament“, explained the Corsica after his defeat.
Fils – Cuenin: young guns take the power
Freshness atmosphere in Play In Challenger with victories of young French players Arthur Fils (17 years, ranked 479th) against Roman Safiullin (ranked 143rd), 6-2, 7-6, and the one of Sean Cuenin (18 years, ranked 826th, WC) against Luca Nardi (ranked 297th), 3-6, 6-3, 6-0. Constant Lestienne (ranked 205th) also won his match against Japaneese Uchida (ranked 275th), 7-6, 6-2, as also experienced Robin Haase (ranked 263th) against Illya Marchenko (ranked 252th), 7-6, 6-7, 6-2. Dutchman will be opposed to French Arthur Fils this Thursday for the second round.
Among the other matches: a 100 % French battle between Cuenin and Lestienne whereas Ricardas Berankis (ranked 87th, top seed of the tournament) will be facde to Tobias Kamke (ranked 292th), runner-up in 2018. Last match of the day, the one of French Grégoire Barrère (ranked 178th) against Canadian Alexis Galarneau (ranked 353rd), from qualifyings.
