Challenger Tour Round-Up: Soares, Eltorgman & Baltayan All Keep Home Hopes Alive

International Tournament Madeira Island 

Rui Soares kept Portuguese hopes alive on day two of the International Tournament Madeira Island, beating Omar ElKattan 3-0 to reach the quarter-finals. 

The defending champion and No.2 seed needed little more than half an hour to record his victory, but home hopes now rest solely on his shoulders, with both remaining Portuguese women having lost out in round two. 

No.8 seed and Madeiran native Sofia Aveiro Pita was the first to lose, going down 3-0 to England’s Isabel McCullough, before Catarina Nunes was soundly beaten by second seed Rana Ismail in the day’s penultimate match on court one. 

Pita was the only seed to go out of the women’s competition, while Christopher Gordon was the only men’s seed to fall in round two, losing 3-1 to experienced Swiss player Robin Gadola. 

BKY Technologies Open 

Canada’s Salah Eltorgman finds himself in a similar position in Edmonton to that of Soares in Madeira, as the only home favourite left in the draw at the BKY Technologies Open. 

Eltorgman needed four games to see off Hong Kong’s Lam Shing fung, setting up a quarter-final matchup with eighth seed Laszlo Godde. 

The young Canadian salvaged what was otherwise a disappointing day for the home crowd, who had already seen third seed Liam Marrison and fourth seed Connor Turk crash out earlier in the day. 

Like Eltorgman, England’s Perry Malik – the No.2 seed – did not have things his own way, having to overturn a one-game deficit to beat Abhishek Agarwal, winning 4-11, 11-6, 11-8, 11-4 in 52 minutes. 

Les Elles de l’Est 

Rising French star Lauren Baltayan showed exactly why she’s so highly regarded with a dominant display in round two of the Les Elles de l’Est, taking just 15 minutes to beat compatriot Rose Lucas Marcuzzo. 

Baltayan is the No.1 seed despite being just 16 years of age, and dropped only 13 points en route to victory. 

She will now play No.7 seed Polly Clark, one of two English players left in contention. 

Clark came through a five-game tussle with Fleur Maas of the Netherlands, and was joined in the next round soon afterwards by third seed Kiera Marshall, who beat Marie Van Riet 3-0 in the following match. 

France’s Elise Romba, the No.2 seed, also made it through, knocking out Egypt’s Mariam Ashraf 3-0, albeit with two of the three games going to tie breaks. 

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