The Ministry of Interior Tennis Challenger got underway on Sunday in style at the Public Security Officers Club in Gudaibiya.
The event, which continues until February 19, is organised by the Public Security Sports Association.
The first-day action saw Ukrainian Aleksandr Brynin best South Korean Yunseung Chung with a score (7-5, 6-4), Norwegian Victor Durasovic defeated Romain Arneodo from Monaco 2-0 (6-0,
7-5), Bulgarian Dinko Dinev was declared victorious over Bosnian Mirza Basic after the latter withdrew from the game while the former was leading 6-3.
In other matches, Australian Anthony Popyrin lost to Turkey's Yanki Erel 0-2 (1-6, 4-6), while Czech's Roman Jebavi was defeated by Japanese Kaito Uesugi 0-2 (4-6 and 1-6).
In the evening session, Egyptian Mohamed Safwat outperformed American Ulises Blanch after the latter withdrew with a score of (6-7 and 6-4), Ukrainian Vitaliy Sachko edged Czech's Jaroslav Pospisil 2-0 (6-4 and 6-3), Italian Salvatore Caruso defeated Romanian Dan Tomescu (6-4, 6-2), Russian Andrey Chepelev defeated Japanese Toshihide Matsui 2-0 (6-3, 6-2).
The first-day action concluded with three confrontations, as Colin Sinclair from Northern Mariana Island defeated his Turkish opponent Koray Kirci 2-0 (6-3 and 6-2), Germany's Kai Wehnelt beat Romanian Alexandru Jecan (6-3, 7-3), while Italian Andrea Arnaboldi rounded off the first day by defeating American Kareem Al Allaf in the strongest preliminary qualifying matches, with a score of (4-6, 6-4, 6-1).
In the second qualifying round, Uesugi faces Erel, Sachko will meet rival Chepelev, Brynin takes on Dinev, Durasovic meets Caruso, Safwat plays Wehnelt, and Sinclair plays against Arnaboldi.
