Ireland’s Ammar Elamin provided a big shock on the opening day of the ATP Challenger 75 at Elm Park on Sunday, downing Ecuador’s Andy Andrade to make it through to the second round of qualifying.
The 23-year-old wildcard, who has a career-high ranking of 1,014, defeated Andrade, ranked eight in the qualifiers, 6-2, 1-6, 7-5 in two hours and 12 minutes and was left lost for words after the win.
“Yeah, I feel great. I don’t even have the good enough vocabulary to describe how I feel,” said Elamin, who is competing in his first Challenger event.
“First set, I started playing really well. I was really clear with what I wanted to do. I served well and, yeah, I was playing the game I wanted to play.”
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“Second set, he played a lot better. He made a lot more returns, and then once he got into a lot more points, it started to get a bit tight.”
“Third set, then there was a big battle. In the final game, it was 15-40 down [and I] somehow managed to serve well and get it done.”
On Monday, Elamin will face Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis for a place in the main draw. Kokkinakis won the 2022 Australian Open doubles title alongside Nick Kyrgios and is currently working his way back to full fitness following major pectoral surgery last year.
The 30-year-old wildcard defeated Harold Mayot, the top seed in qualifying, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 on Sunday.
The second qualifying round match will be first up on Court One on Monday at 11am.
The other two Irish players failed to progress. James McGloughlin, 19, was visibly frustrated as China’s Yi Zhou, seeded ninth, defeated him 6-1, 6-2. Dylan Leeman, who beat McGloughlin in the wildcard playoff final last week, was beaten by Great Britain’s Charles Broom 6-0, 6-0 in the last match of the day.
