Ly Hoang Nam lost in his first meeting with the top 100 ATP

Vietnam's number one tennis player met a top 100 ATP player for the first time. Watanuki was born in 1998, is Japan's number two tennis player, just behind Yoshihito Nishioka - 44th. Watanuki has participated in enough ATP 250, 500, 1000 to Grand Slam. In 2023, Watanuki's best performance is reaching the second round of the Australian Open, Wimbledon, ATP Masters 1000 Madrid in Spain and Miami in the US.

Hoang Nam is rated lower than many Japanese competitors. He only has a mental advantage after his first win against a player in the top 200 ATP, Wu Tung Lin - 188th of Taiwan in the second round of Shanghai Masters 100.

Difficulties came for Nam from the beginning, when he almost lost the service game, but could not stop Watanuki on his second chance in game three. The Vietnamese tennis player could not keep up with his opponent's ability to serve quickly and proactively, scoring only three points after four games of receiving the ball in set one. Hoang Nam lost another break in game seven despite having the advantage of leading 40-15, thereby losing the final 2-6.

The second set also did not have any more positive signs. Nam lost three consecutive service games and lost 0-5. In game six, he had two chances to win the game of catching the ball, but Watanuki quickly corrected his mistakes to win absolutely 6-0.

Losing in the quarterfinals, Ly Hoang Nam still had a successful Challenger 100 tournament. This achievement helps Nam gain 20 more points on the ATP table to return to the top 400, along with $ 3,570 in prize money (about VND 85 million).

The tennis player born in 1997 is expected to continue participating in Guangzhou Nansha Challenger 75 from September 11 to September 16. After that, he will attend ASIAD 19 also in China.