Edinburgh’s Jacob Fearnley is safely through to the last 16 of the Olbia Challenger tennis tournament in Sardinia after a 6-1, 6-3 victory over fellow Briton George Loffhagen.
The margin of victory reflected the gulf in rankings – Fearnley is currently world number 96; Loffhagen is down at number 374 – and the former relied heavily on a powerful serve.
Fearnley’s first and second serves received a 75% rating. Fearnley raced into a 4-1 lead early on – the opening game on his opponent’s serve was exceptionally long – but had to come from 2-3 down in the second set after breaking back.
Top seed in this tournament, Fearnley was making his first appearance on court since withdrawing with a so far unexplained injury when facing Spain’s Inaki Montes de-la-Torre in the Porto challenger on 1 October.
