LOCAL junior tennis players Thorsten Poelzl and Melvin Tong got a taste of professional tennis when they were given wild card entries into the qualifying tournament of the Salem Hongkong Open.
Poelzl and Tong, however, found they were out of depth at professional level as they were both bundled out after only one match.
Poelzl played Sweden's Peter Nyborg and put up a game fight in the first set. But he could not keep up once his opponent settled down and tamely bowed out 6-4, 6-1.
Tong suffered a similar fate in the hands of American Patrick Bauer, giving some resistance early in the match but quickly fizzled out and lost 6-3, 6-0.
It was, nevertheless, good experience for the two highly promising youngsters who are members of the Hongkong Davis Cup training squad.