Hoang Nam won his first match at the Amex-Istanbul Challenger

Amex-Istanbul is in the Challenger system and has a prize money of up to $75,000. Ranked 518 on the ATP rankings, the ticket to this tournament is very valuable for Hoang Nam, opening up the opportunity for him to compete with players in the world's top 300. This is Hoang Nam's first tournament after the 2018 Asian Games.

Hoang Nam's opponent in the opening match - Ukrainian tennis player Manafov Vladysla - is ranked 475 on the ATP rankings and is seeded seventh in the qualifying round. Vladysla was in the world's top 300 early last year.

The match was tense from the start. In game 10, Hoang Nam brilliantly saved six break points to keep the score at 5-5 and drag the set to a tie-break. In this set, when the score was 3-3, Hoang Nam scored four points in a row to take the lead.

In set two, Hoang Nam won the break in the first game.Vladyslav then broke Hoang Nam's serve in game 8. However, that was all the Ukrainian player could do. Hoang Nam had another break point to end the match.

In the second qualifying round, Hoang Nam will face Bulgarian playerVasko Mladenov - who is only ranked 910th at ATP. If he overcomes this obstacle, Hoang Nam will likely compete withHossam Youssef - the Egyptian tennis player currently ranked 366 ATP - to compete for a ticket to the official round.Youssef is the number one seed in the qualifiers.