Ryota Kishi digs deep to return a shot against Christian Didier Chin of Malaysia in the final qualifying match yesterday. The Japanese won 6-3, 6-3. — Photo by Teo Chi Wei
KUCHING: Rocky Damien was the only survivor among the four Malaysians trying out for the singles main draw of the ITF Men’s Pro Circuit US$15,000 at the Sarawak Lawn Tennis Association Tennis Centre yesterday.
He beat Singapore’s Roy Hobbs 6-1, 6-2 to join two compatriots Ahmed Deedat Abdul Razak and Syed Mohd Agil Syeb Naguib in the first round.
Damien will play third seed Denis Yevseyez of Kazakhstan while Deedat faces fourth seed Evan Song of the US. Syed Mohd Agil’s first round opponent is eighth seed from Germany Lukas Ollert.
In yesterday’s final qualifying, rising national star Christian Didier Chin lost 3-6, 3-6 to Ryota Kishi of Japan and Shamirul Shahril Mohd Adam Das was defeated by China’s Chen Iiran 6-3, 1-6, 6-2.
Christian Oliver Lee also bowed out 3-6, 4-6 to Alberto Lim of the Philippines.
Others who qualified for the main draw were Palaphoom Kovapitukted (Thailand), Suraj R Prabodh (India), Aleksandr Malyshev (Russia) and Keisuke Numajiri (Japan).
The top two seeds in the main draw are ITF No 330 from Italy Alessandro Bega and ITF No 481 Wang Chuhan of China.
They will only see action on Wednesday after receiving first-round byes.