Neuchrist with the ATP ranking of 336 is the top most ranked, followed by second seed, Sadio Doumbia of France with 388. He had lost the first set against unseeded Peter Kobelt of the U.S. 6-7 and was trailing 3-4 before the injury forced him to pull out.
Kobelt, who is ranked 645 on the ATP ladder, will trade strokes with Michail Pervolarakis of Greece.
“I hope to play a good game against Pervolarakis this time round. He has defeated me once. We met six months ago in Doha and he beat me. This time, I wish my game would be up to outwit him to advance in the tournament,” Peter Kobelt told The Guardian.
Fourth seeded Jomby was similarly losing grip of his first round game against William Bushamuka of the U.S. before he withdrew from the game. Bushamuka will now play in the second round against Li-Wei Tan of Taipei. Tan crushed Kunai Anand of India 6-2, 6-2.
Nigeria’s wild card entrant Musa Mohammed could not fight back his tears as he pulled muscle that suddenly retarded his agility on court in his game against Maxine Mora of France. The game was hitherto under his (Mohammed’s) control before pulling muscle.
The exit of Mohammed and Ubon has however left Sylvester Emmanuel as the only surviving Nigerian in the battle. Emmanuel qualified into the main draw by subduing higher ITF ranked Oleg Khotov of Ukraine in two straight sets 6-4, 6-2.
Emmanuel will lock horns with sixth seeded Benjamin Lock of Zimbabwe.
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