The Men's World Tennis Championship Series I M-15 international tennis competition taking place in Nusa Dua, Bali, presented an impressive opening match for the host representatives. Two of Indonesia's mainstay men's singles tennis players, Rafalentino Ali Da Costa and Muhamad Rifqi Fitriadi, successfully secured tickets to the second round after defeating their opponents in the early phase of the tournament, which features a total prize of 15,000 USD.
An extraordinary effort was shown by Rafalentino Ali Da Costa. The 16-year-old young tennis player, who fought his way through the qualifying rounds, had to battle fiercely for 2 hours and 20 minutes to defeat Indian representative Kabir Hans. Rafalentino took the first set with a score of 7-5, before losing momentum in the second set to drop it 4-6. However, he managed to bounce back in the deciding set to end Hans's resistance with a final score of 6-3.
Following the grueling match, Rafalentino expressed his gratitude for the continuous support of his family and various parties throughout his career. He also realized that his flight hours at the international level still need to be consistently improved to enable him to compete closely at higher levels.
Similar success was achieved by another Indonesian mainstay men's singles player, Muhamad Rifqi Fitriadi. The tennis player, who currently ranks 616th in the ATP, performed dominantly to win in straight sets 6-4, 6-1 against Indian tennis player Hitesh Chauhan. This victory was impressive considering Rifqi had just arrived in Indonesia from a tournament in Wuning, China. In the second round, Rifqi is scheduled to face the challenge of Australian representative Sam Ryan Ziegann.
In addition to the singles category, Rifqi, partnering with Filipino tennis player Francis Casey Alcantara, also advanced to the men's doubles quarterfinals after defeating the Indonesian duo Lucky Chandra Kurniawan and Tegar Abdi Wibowo. Unfortunately, this positive record was not followed by Gunawan Trismuwantara, Anthony Susanto, and Ethan David Zapp, who had to stop in the first round of the men's singles after falling to their respective opponents.
