NextGen shines at Mallorca Championships Qualifying

Three names have been the stars of the opening day of the Mallorca Championships: Abdullah Shelbayh, Alex Michelsen and James McCabe. The qualifying round of the third edition of the ATP 250 being held in Santa Ponça (Calvià) opened the curtain on Saturday with young talent taking centre stage.

The 19-year-old Jordanian tennis player defeated Daniel Rincón (6-3, 6-2) in the duel between pupils of the Rafa Nadal Academy. Shelbayh (No.237), who already has experience of qualifying this year at the ATP 250 tournament in Banja Luka (Bosnia & Herzegovina) where he also achieved his first Main Draw victory, will be looking to repeat this Sunday by challenging French top seed Arthur Rinderknech (3-6, 6-1, 6-4 to Rudolf Molleker).

The American (18) and the Australian (19) have both won for the first time in the qualifying rounds of an ATP event. Michelsen (No.246) has managed to get rid of German Daniel Masur (7-5, 6-4) and will look for a place in the main draw against South African Lloyd Harris (6-7[3], 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 to Jiri Vesely). McCabe (No.274), meanwhile, defeated Belgian Michael Geerts (6-3, 3-6, 7-6[4]) in a battle of more than two hours and will face Roman Safiullin (7-5, 6-1 to Alejandro Moro).

The day was rounded off with wins for Pavel Kotov against Spaniard Fernando Verdasco (6-1, 7-6[5]) and Canadian Steven Diez against Austrian Li Tu (6-4, 6-3). Both will meet this Sunday for another of the four tickets that give access to the Main Draw.