Vietnam’s no. 1 tennis player, Ly Hoang Nam, has been drawn against Go Soeda of Japan, who ranks 387 places higher than Nam in the ATP rankings, in the first round of the Vietnam Open 2017, scheduled to take place in Ho Chi Minh City from October 23 to 29.

Vietnam's no. 1 tennis player, Ly Hoang Nam. 

The Vietnam Open 2017 is part of the 2017 ATP Challenger Tour, offering a total cash prize of up to US$50,000 and 90 ATP rating points for the champions in both the singles and doubles categories.

The week-long competition will bring together 32 competitors, including 26 main draw entrants and six wildcard earners, among whom are the former Junior Grand Slam champions, Taylor Fritz from the US (world no. 99, seed no. 1), Yuki Bhambri from India (world no. 146, seed no. 4) and Max Purcell; former world no. 8, Mikhail Youzhny from Russia (world no. 126, seed no. 2) and the 2015 Vietnam Open winner, Saketh Myneni.

World no. 159 and seed no. 5, Go Soeda, is considered as a tough challenge for Vietnamese star Ly Hoang Nam. The Japanese player once stood at 47th in the world and has competed in all four Grand Slam tournaments. During his career, Soeda has claimed 18 championship titles at the ATP Challenger Tour level and he is also among the title favourites in HCM City this year.

In the doubles event, Hoang Nam will resume his partnership with Sumit Nagal from India. Two years ago, Nam coupled with Nagal to win the Junior Wimbledon doubles crown, thus becoming Vietnam’s first-ever Grand Slam junior champion.

At the Vietnam Open 2016, Hoang Nam was stopped in the men’s singles first round after losing 0-2 to Ito Tatsuma of Japan, whilst pairing with teammate Nguyen Hoang Thien to make the doubles quarterfinals, in which the two Vietnamese representatives were defeated by the Thai twins, Sanchai and Sonchat Ratiwatana.

Vietnamese wildcard earners, Minh Tuan and Linh Giang, will play former world no. 50, Robert Stephane of France, and former world no. 39, Matosevic Marinko of Serbia, respectively, in the first round.

Nhan Dan