Le Duc Phat opens smoothly at Vietnam International Challenger
As the first Vietnamese tennis player to compete at Vietnam International Challenger 2023, Le Duc Phat received the cheers of the few spectators present at Tay Ho Gymnasium. With flexible movements and powerful smashes, the host player only took 39 minutes to beat Yap Juin An.
Duc Phat started game one unlucky, when there were two situations where the bridge flipped the edge of the net and once the bridge licked the line, leading 1-4. But very quickly, he regained his score with accurate smash jumps. That prestige seems to be that the Malaysian opponent is psychologically, gradually losing accuracy in the handling phase and many times hitting the outer shuttle, even not playing through the net.
After equalizing 14-14, Duc Phat continuously took the lead. As soon as there was a set-point, the 1.8-meter tall player took advantage of it. After a series of small misses, he immediately pressed the bridge to score when the opponent put it high.
Game two takes place in the opposite direction. After leading 4-1, Duc Phat hit the outside many times and failed, letting Yap Juin An pass. During the two-minute break in the middle of the game, the coach asked Duc Phat to breathe deeply, not to rush and to be firm.
Returning, he made the arena lively with continuous applause when he made a series of eight consecutive points to lead 18-12. His flexible moves and requests all over the field made Yap Juin An run after him. The high jumps of Vietnamese players are also very heavy, bringing back consecutive points. He also made the right judgment, there were two reasonable situations when the opponent hit only about a centimeter out.
After missing two match-points, Duc Phat took advantage of success in the third time, when he smashed across the field causing the opponent to fall after a series of back-and-forth fights. Win Yap Juin An, a tennis player born in 1998 and ranked 242nd in the world, won the right to continue. He will meet another Malaysian player, Yeoh Seng Zoe, to compete for tickets to the main round.
In the women's singles, Vietnam has two athletes entering the main round, Vu Thi Trang and Nguyen Thuy Linh. In which, Nguyen Thuy Linh, the tennis player who has just won the runner-up position at Thailand International Challenger, is ranked second seed.
VietnamInternal challenger takes place from March 21 to March 26 at Tay Ho District Gymnasium (Hanoi). This year's tournament has the participation of 309 players from 17 countries and territories, with five events: men's singles, women's singles, men's doubles, women's doubles and mixed doubles. The champion player in each event will receive a prize money of 1200 USD, the second prize is 720 USD.
