Giron, Bangoura will play for position in LG&T main draw

Seven players won straight-set matches on the opening day of the 2015 Levene Gouldin & Thompson Tennis Challenger Saturday, including four who advanced to qualifying finals. Marcos Giron and Sekou Bangoura both won to move closer to playing in this week’s main draw field.

Giron, the top-seeded player in the qualifying field, beat Nicholas Bybel, 6-4, 6-2, Saturday. Giron took 22-24 first serve points to move on to a qualifying final against Dmitriy Kamynin.

Kamynin won a 6-3, 6-1, decision over William Jones. Kamynin used a strong service game, recording five aces and winning 82 percent of his service points in the match.

Bangoura took care of Stefan Vinti, 6-2, 6-3, to advance to Sunday’s action. Bangoura won 66 percent of his total service points. The fifth-seeded player among qualifiers, he will play Tom Jomby tomorrow, with the winner moving on to the main draw field.

Jomby, the second seed, beat Cameron Silverman, 6-1, 6-0, in a first-round qualifier. Jomby posted seven aces in the contest.

In opening round action, Patrick Daciek put together a stellar performance, defeating Keith Whittingham by scores of 6-0, 6-1. Daciek won 22-23 second return points to control the contest. The 25-year old American advanced to face Nicolas Meister in the next round of qualifying on Sunday.

Austin Smith fell behind early to Andrew Carter, but rallied for a 6-2 win in the first set. Smith followed with a 6-1 win to close out the match. A freshman at Georgia, Smith won five break points. He will take on Ryan Haviland tomorrow.

Bernando Casares handled Graham Alrutz, 6-1, 6-1. Casares won 12-14 first serve points in the match. The Brazil native, will face Luke Bambridge on Sunday in the next round of qualifying.