38-year-old captain of the Ukrainian women's tennis team, Ilya Marchenko (1390), triumphed in the first round of the ITF M25 tournament held in QianDaoHu, China, defeating local athlete Zhang Minghui (2147).
The match lasted 3 hours and 33 minutes, concluding with a score of 7:6(5), 6:7(5), 6:4.
This tournament marked Marchenko's first competition since February of this year, with both players having successfully qualified.
During the match, Marchenko served 6 aces, made 10 double faults, and achieved 3 breaks. His opponent recorded 6 aces, 4 service errors, and 2 breaks.
The two players had not faced each other before. In the next round, Marchenko will compete against the fourth-seeded Uzbek player, Sergey Fomin (462).