Nguyen Van Phuong at an event in Vietnam last year. He has won a berth in the second qualification round at the M15 Sharm El Sheikh tennis tournament in Egypt on Sunday. — Photo courtesy of VTF

Phuong defeated Ahmed Bayoumy of the hosts 6-2, 6-2. He will play Danil Spasibo from Russia in the second round this afternoon, Hanoi time.

Phuong is one of two Vietnamese athletes at the US$15,000 hard-court event along with national No 1 Ly Hoang Nam.

While Phuong must start from the qualifier, Nam is in the main draw, which will be held after the qualification on February 25.

The Southeast Asian Games champion Nam has set a target to take the trophy home although he is seeded No 8 here.

Nam who reached his best world position at world No 385 in 2018 has dropped to No 673 currently after his break because of injuries and failures at recent tournaments in Thailand after his comeback.

He said the Egyptian event would be a chance for him to improve his ranking, hopefully making the top 400 in a short time. — VNS

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