Quarterfinals
Thursday Order of Play
Center court C. Denolly vs M. Houkes (7) 11:00 am CAT C. Hemery (3) vs K. Majchrzak (WC)
Court 1 Y. Oliel vs S. Kozlov 11:00 am CAT
D. Ionel (5) vs M. Trungelliti (4)
Unseeded Corentin Denolly is hoping to feed off the Rwandan support when he takes on Dutchman Max Houkes in their quarterfinal clash of the Rwanda Challenger 50 Tour (Kigali 1) on Thursday, February 29.
The Frenchman, who won Rwanda Open M25 (Week 2) in Kigali in September 2023, reached the last eight after coming from a set down to upset Italian Gabriele Pennaforti in three sets 6-1, 7-62, 6-2 on Wednesday, February 28,while Houkes, seeded 7 at Rwanda Challenger, defeated American Preston Brown 6-4, 6-4.
Both games were held at Kigali Ecology Tennis Club courts.
"I have never faced him [Houkes] but we practiced together here, and I have also seen him play. He is a very good player, so I kind of know what to expect," Denolly said of his last eight opponent.
He added that, "It's going to be a tough match and probably a good one for the fans. I love playing in Rwanda and hopefully I can use that support to play a good match. May the best player win, and I hope, it's going to be me."
Denolly vs Houkes is one of four quarterfinal matchups to watch on Thursday, with the winner from each matchup set to advance to Friday’s semifinals.
Third seed Calvin Hemery (FRA) defeated Damien Wenger (Swiss) 7-5, 6-4 on center court to set up a last eight date with Kamil Majchrzak, a Polish wildcard beat Argenina’s Juan Pablo Paz 6-3, 6-0 in the second round.
Romanian Nicholas David Ionel (Seed 5) eliminated Burundian Guy Orly Iradukunda 6-2, 6-2 on in a game that took just over an hour 12 minutes. He will next face Argentine Marco Trungelliti (4th seed) who beat France’s Emilien Evoisin 6-1, 7-5 in the round of 16 on Tuesday.
Ionel goes into the last eight clash against Trungelliti with the psychological advantage having beaten the same opponent in their last meeting at the Girona ATP Challenger in three sets last year.
"It's my first time to play at (high) altitude, and today (Wednesday) I got a bit tired because of the heat, the match was not as easy as it looked," the Romanian told Times Sport after his win over Iradukunda.
And, regarding his next opponent, he said, "(against) Trungelliti, it's not going to be easy but I will try to play good tennis and get the win."
Iradukunda, semi-finalist at the 2023 Rwanda Open M25 (Week), entered the Rwanda Challenger - Kigali 1 on wildcard.
But, after ousting American Brumm in the first round, he looked nowhere near Ionel as he left the court convinced that he still needs to do more to reach his opponent’s level.
"He (Ionel) very fit, and very strong from the back."
"He doesn't give you anything for free, he is a very good player. I tried to be aggressive but I was making a lot of mistakes," Iradukunda admitted.
Yshai Oliel (ISR), who beat Frenchman Lucas Bouquet in three sets 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 will next face American Stefan Kozlov, who defeated Daniel Cukierman of Israel 7-5, 64 -7, 7-6 in a match that lasted more than three hours.