In their first competitive fling after earning promotion to Asia Oceania Zone Davis Cup Group III in Bahrain last month, three Cambodian national team players kept alive their hopes of moving up from the pre-qualifying rounds of the ongoing TATP Series Singha Classic at the Impact Tennis Academy in Bangkok on Saturday.

While the Kingdom’s top player Bun Kenny got a wild card to Monday’s first round of the qualifiers his teammates, Our Sarith and Long Samneang were in the third round of the pre-qualifying stage.

Phalkun Mam was due to play his next two matches on the same day after winning his first round match.

The 500,000-baht Singha Classic is the second leg of the five-tournament TATP Tour Series, which ends with the Singha Thailand Master in mid-November. The series opened with the Singha Bangkok Open in the first week of April. The next two events in line are the Singha Pattaya Open in August and the Singha TATP Championship in October.

With his Davis Cup debut experience behind him, left-handed Our Sarith began on a bright note by seeing off local player Taranont Chaiyaban 6-1, 6-0 in the first round. He went on to beat another Thai, Pat Payamang.

Long Samneang, who played a key role in Cambodia regaining its Group III status with several notable singles victories in Bahrain, breezed through his second round against Thailand’s Pattrapol Teslongthong 6-0, 6-1 after receiving a first-round bye as the third seed.

Phalkun made short work of local hope Tossarot Kiratitrakarn 6-1,6-2.