The young up-and-coming stars of the 30th annual $100,000 Nordic Naturals Challenger presented by Santa Cruz County Bank came to play on Tuesday at the Seascape Sports Club in Aptos.
Twenty-year-old Quentin Halys, ranked 123 in the world, eliminated 18-year-old Casper Ruud in the final match of Day 2 action. Halys, who hails from France, dropped the Norwegian Ruud, who was the No. 7 seed of the tournament, with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 win.
On court 5, 22-year-old American Mackenzie McDonald knocked off 2015 Nordic Naturals Challenger champion John Millman 6-7(3), 6-4, 6-0. McDonald advances to play No. 6 seed and countryman Tennys Sandgren in the second round.
Earlier in the day, 19-year-old American Taylor Fritz took care of business against Konstantin Kravchuk, of Russia. Fritz, who has a career-high singles ranking of 53, will play his countryman Austin Krajicek, who fought his way into the main draw as a qualifier, in the feature match on Wednesday not before 6 p.m.
No. 3 seed Henri Laaksonen, No. 4 seed Mikhail Kukushkin and Sandgren all won their matches in two-set sweeps.
Laaksonen, a 25-year-old from Switzerland, beat unseeded Ramkumar Ramanathan, of India, 6-3, 6-2.
Kukushkin, a 29-year-old from Kazakhstan who played for the championship in 2014, made quick work of Russian Teymuraz Gabashvili, notching a 6-4, 6-4 victory.
Sandgren, 26, ousted qualifier Frederik Nielsen, of Denmark, 6-2, 6-4.
Joris De Loore, 24, Raymond Sarmiento, 25, Dennis Novikov, 23, Alexander Bublik, 20, and Jason Jung, 28, also advanced to the second round with wins.
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COMPLETE DAY 2 SINGLES RESULTS
[3] H. Laaksonen def. R. Ramanathan >> 6-3, 6-2
[5] M. Kukushkin def. T. Gabashvili >> 6-4, 6-4
[6] T. Sandgren def. [Q] F. Nielsen >> 6-2, 6-4
Q. Halys def. [7] C. Ruud >> 6-4, 3-6, 6-3
[WC] T. Fritz def. K. Kravchuk >> 6-3, 6-4
[WC] M. McDonald def. J. Millman >> 6-7(3), 6-4, 6-0
[Alt] J. De Loore def. [WC] J. Lamble >> 6-3, 6-1
R. Sarmiento def. N. Rubin >> 7-6(5), 6-2
[WC] D. Novikov def. G. Sakharov >> 6-4, 6-4
A. Bublik def. M. Krueger >> 6-3, 2-6, 6-4
J. Jung def. C. Norrie >> 7-5, 6-4
DAY 3 ORDER OF PLAY
CENTER COURT start 11:00 am
D. King vs A. Santillan
S. Groth vs J. Jung
[WC] M. McDonald vs [6] T. Sandgren
Not Before 6:00 pm
[Q] A. Krajicek vs [WC] T. Fritz
COURT 5 start 2:00 pm
[WC] L. Bambridge/D. O’Hare vs [3] J. Erlich/ N. Skupski
Not Before 3:30 pm
May Be Moved to Center Court – [4] A. Bolt/J. Thompson vs C. Ruud/A. Santillan
Not Before 5:00 pm
After Appropriate Rest – [LL] R. Bemelmans/J. De Loore vs [2] S. Groth/S. Lipsky
