Estonia’s top men’s tennis player Mark Lajal (ATP No. 150) is into the quarter-finals of the ATP Challenger tournament in Sumter, U.S.A. after defeating number one seed Zizou Berg of Belgium in straight sets.
Bergs, who is currently ranked 54th in the world, is the highest-ranked opponent Lajal has defeated in his career so far.
Lajal broke his opponent’s serve in the second game, before losing on his own serve in game 3. The first set was then evenly matched, before the Estonian won two games in a row to take it 6-4.
The second set started similarly, with Bergs breaking the Estonian’s serve in the third game, but Lajal responded with a break of his own immediately. Lajal then won three games on the trot to secure a 6-3 second sit win and book his spot in the quarter-finals.
In June, Lajal lost a tight contest against Bergs in the quarters at the Libema Open in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands.
The Estonian will now face 22-year-old Jaime Faria of Portugal (ATP No. 124), who knocked the him out the Australian Open in the qualifiers earlier this year.
The No. 1 seed goes down in Sumter
Mark Lajal flies past Bergs 6-4, 6-3 to reach his fifth quarterfinal of the year! #ATPChallenger pic.twitter.com/JKeFNMLx2Z
— ATP Challenger Tour (@ATPChallenger) August 14, 2025
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