HÀ NỘI — National champion duo Lý Hoàng Nam and Nguyễn Văn Phương were defeated in the first match of the National Tennis Tournament yesterday in Nghệ An Province.

Nam and Phương of Becamex Bình Dương went down to lose 6-2, 4-6, 2-10 to Hoàng Thành Trung and Ngô Đức Dương of Public Security in Group A.

In another match, Lê Quốc Khánh and Lâm Quang Trí of HCM City defeated Lê Khắc Tùng Lâm and Võ Văn Toàn of Đà Nẵng 6-1, 6-2.

In Group B, Huỳnh Chí Khương and Trần Thanh Hoàng of Military won 6-1, 6-4 over Phạm Hữu Vinh and Trương Giang Thanh from HCM City. Military pair Nguyễn Hoàng Hiếu and Trần Trung Tính came from behind to beat teammates Trần Hoàng Anh Khoa and Lê Công Tiễn 6-7 (2), 6-1, 10-7.

In the singles matches, Trịnh Linh Giang of Bình Dương easily won 6-2, 6-0 over Khoa. Vũ Artem beat Huỳnh Minh Hưng 6-2, 6-4 in an all-Bình Dương match. Two winners secure their berths in Group B’s main round which begin today.

Two slots of Group A went to Thanh who defeated Dương 6-3, 6-3 and Phương who trounced Military’s Triệu Hoàng Hiếu 7-5, 6-1 yesterday.

The tournament--also known as the Vietravel Cup--lures the nation’s ranked players for the men’s and women’s singles and doubles categories.

The finals are scheduled for December 10.

In other tennis news, three Vietnamese players improved their ATP ranking in the latest release yesterday.

Hoàng Nam jumped two steps up to No 613. Nguyễn Hoàng Thiên moved to No 1,602--one higher than last week--while Trịnh Linh Giang made No 2,059, nine steps up. — VNS