Gauthier Onclin qualified for the second round of the BW Open, the Louvain-la-Neuve Challenger tennis tournament, a hard-court event worth 184,625 euros, Wednesday, at Blocry. Onclin, 218th player in the world, beat the Kazakh Denis Yevseyev (ATP 184), from qualifying, on a double 6-4 in 1 hour and 26 minutes.
Semi-finalist last year, Onclin started well, taking his opponent’s service straight away. Yevseyev broke in the fourth game, but Onclin broke again in the process. The Liégeois no longer let go of his advantage and won the first round. Onclin started the second set in the same way as the first, with a break. Yevseyev came back to 3-3 before another break from Onclin (5-4), who headed towards victory.
Onclin will meet the Frenchman in the round of 16 Benoit Paire (ATP 115/N.6), i.e. the Swiss Leandro Riedi (ATP 250), from qualifying. Onclin, 22, was selected on Monday for the Davis Cup qualifying match that Belgium will play in Croatia on February 3 and 4.
Last year, the Liégeois, then 338th in the world, came out of qualifying in Louvain-la-Neuve to reach the semi-final, lost to Goffin. Yevseyev had eliminated the young Belgian Jack Loge (ATP 1.010), 19 years old, regional stage, in the first round of qualifying.
