National hope Ly Hoang Nam defeated No 5 seed Chung Yunseong of South Korea in the first round match of the Vietnam F3 Men’s Futures tennis tournament in Binh Duong Province.

Nam who is unseeded here quickly took two break points to win 6-3 in the first set against his rival who is ranked 632nd in the world.

Nam who jumps to his best ranking of 862 recently continued his powerful tennis in the second set with another two break points win to lead 5-2.

Chung who entered the quarter-finals of the Australian Open for juniors early this year came back to win three games in a row to level 5-5.

Nam under local fans’ support picked up the third break point and wrapped up the second set at 7-5.

He will play Japanese Ito Yuichi, world No 635, next round.

In another match, Vietnamese Nguyen Hoang Thien retired after twisting his ankle during his match against Chinese Taipei Liang Chi when it was 6-5 for Liang in the first set.

Earlier, Vu Artem was defeated 2-6, 0-6 by Shane Vinsant of the US.

In the doubles event, Huynh Minh Hung and Trinh Linh Giang walked over to the quarter-finals after their rivals, Hong Seong-chan and Li Zhao-tai retired.

They will see No 2 seed pair Pruchia Isarow and Kittiphong Wachiramanowong of Thailand, who beat their country-fellows Congsup Congcar and Jirat Navasirisomboon 6-1, 6-2 yesterday. 

VNS