Challenger Tour Round-Up: Five Seeds Out in Georgia; Bernet Shines in Tassie

Life Time Clemens Johns Creek Open 2024 

Five seeds crashed out on day two of the Life Time Clemens Johns Creek Open, with Abdelrahman Nassar ending the hopes of fourth seed Dillon Huang. 

Huang was one of three American players left standing after day one, and came into this matchup ranked 49 places above his Egyptian opponent, but was comfortably beaten on court three. 

In truth, only game two was a real contest, finishing 11-9, with Nassar racing through games one and three for the loss of just 10 points in total. 

Nassar will now play Nigeria’s Adegoke Onaopemipo, who upset fifth seed Jorge Luis Gomez Dominguez. 

Like Nassar’s matchup with Huang, this meeting pitted two players against each other who were separated by around 50 places in the rankings, but once again it was the lower-ranked player who came out on top, with Onaopemipo winning 11-3, 8-11, 11-8, 13-11 in 47 minutes. 

There will still be two American players in action on quarter-finals day, though only one will progress through to the final four, with Shahjahan Khan and Nicholas Spizzirri set to go head-to-head. 

Unseeded Spizzirri was among those to knock out a seeded player on day two, overturning a one-game deficit to see off Sebastian Salazar, and will now get a shot on No.1 seed Khan, who also came from a game down to get past Ahsan Ayaz. 

City of Devonport Tasmanian Open 2024 

David Bernet showcased his burgeoning talents by upsetting No.1 seed Elijah Thomas in round two of the City of Devonport Tasmanian Open. 

The 19-year-old Swiss player – who trains with former World No.15 Johnny Williams – has only played two Challenger Tour events so far this year, but put in an impressive display against the in-form Kiwi here, winning 11-4, 11-6, 11-3. 

Bernet will be joined in the quarter-finals by fellow European teenager Melvil Scianimanico, who was made to work hard by wildcard Jack Hudson.  

After cruising through game one 11-5, the Frenchman suddenly found himself in a battle, losing a lengthy game-two tiebreak 15-13, but regained his composure from there, dropping only seven points in the rest of the match. 

Scianimanico’s quarter-final opponent will be Dylan Molinaro, one of two Australians still in contention, with second seed Rhys Dowling the other.  

You can stay up to date with all the results on the PSA Challenger Tour here.