Tennis Atlantic

Qualifiers Find Alternate Routes Into @CitiOpen; Stephens, Blake, Fish Headline Monday

Rain threatened but did not appear at Citi Open in Washington, DC for final round qualifying matches on Sunday.

As main draw players practiced and lounged around the grounds, qualifiers sweated it out on court in the exceptional DC humidity.

On the men’s side, top seed Matt Ebden made it count against Saketh Myneni by a count of 6-3, 6-1, and Somdev Devvarman was even more efficient in his defeat of Christian Harrison, 6-0, 6-1. Ebden will get a taste of Mardy Fish in the first round.

Sam Groth got out to an early start in his match vs. Rhyne Williams and qualified 6-2, 6-7(5), 6-2, while Yuichi Sugita surprised by outlasting Jesse Levine 2-6, 6-4, 6-3. Levine and Williams ended up in the main draw anyhow as Levine took Monfils spot and Rhyne Williams was a lucky loser.

Finally, Alex Kuznetsov beat Malek Jaziri 6-4, 6-4, and Tim Smyczek prevailed in a slugfest over UVA’s Jarmere Jenkins 5-7, 6-2, 6-2.

Alexandra Mueller ended 14 year old Usue Arconada’s hopes of a main draw berth in just 51 minutes with double breadsticks, 6-1, 6-1.

Irina Falconi got a bye, and therefore only needed to win one match to qualify. She took full advantage and passed Jennifer Elie in three, 6-3, 6-7(3), 6-0.

Jessica Pegula sailed past Shoku Aoyama 6-4, 6-2, while Michelle Larcher de Brito had her hands full with Victoria Duval before prevailing 7-5, 4-6, 6-2.

Sloane Stephens, James Blake and Mardy Fish headline Monday’s action at Citi Open. Play begins at 2:00 p.m.

The following players are scheduled to play on Tuesday, July 30, 2013.

ATP:Top

§  Marcos Baghdatis

§  Grigor Dimitrov

§  Alexander Dolgopolov (2012 Citi Open Champion)

§  Ryan Harrison

§  Lleyton Hewitt

§  Sam Querrey (No. 1 ranked American on the ATP World Tour)

§  Milos Raonic

§  Bernard Tomic

WTA:

§  Angelique Kerber (Top seed)

§  Madison Keys

§  Taylor Townsend (2012 ITF World Champion)

The following players are scheduled to play on Wednesday, July 31, 2013.

ATP:

§  Kevin Anderson

§  Juan Martin Del Potro (Top seed)

§  Tommy Haas

§  John Isner

§  Kei Nishikori

RESULTS – JULY 28, 2013

Mens
Qualifying Singles – Second Round
Qualifying – M Ebden (AUS) d S Myneni (IND) 63 61
Qualifying – S Groth (AUS) d R Williams (USA) 62 67(5) 62
Qualifying – T Smyczek (USA) d [WC] J Jenkins (USA) 57 62 62
Qualifying – Y Sugita (JPN) d J Levine (CAN) 26 64 63
Qualifying – S Devvarman (IND) d C Harrison (USA) 60 61
Qualifying – A Kuznetsov (USA) d M Jaziri (TUN) 64 76(4)

Women’s
Qualifying Singles – Second Round
Qualifying – M Larcher de Brito (POR) d [WC] V Duval (USA) 75 46 62
Qualifying – J Pegula (USA) d S Aoyama (JPN) 64 62
Qualifying – I Falconi (USA) d J Elie (USA) 63 67(3) 60
Qualifying – A Mueller (USA) d [WC] U Arconada (USA) 61 61

ORDER OF PLAY – MONDAY, JULY 29, 2013
STADIUM COURT start 2:00 pm
C Mchale (USA) vs [7] M Rybarikova (SVK) – WTA

Not Before 4:00 PM
R Stepanek (CZE) vs [WC] S Johnson (USA) – ATP

Not Before 5:30 PM
[Q] M Ebden (AUS) vs M Fish (USA) – ATP

Not Before 7:00 PM
J Blake (USA) vs M Matosevic (AUS) – ATP
M Oudin (USA) vs A Rodionova (AUS) – WTA

GRANDSTAND 1 start 2:00 pm
E Bouchard (CAN) / T Townsend (USA) vs J Elie (USA) / L Litvak (USA) – WTA

Not Before 4:00 PM
[Q] S Devvarman (IND) vs [LL] R Williams (USA) – ATP

Not Before 5:30 PM
[WC] D Kudla (USA) vs [Q] S Groth (AUS) – ATP

Not Before 7:00 PM
O Puchkova (RUS) vs [2] S Stephens (USA) – WTA
R Berankis (LTU) vs T Kamke (GER) – ATP

GRANDSTAND 2 start 4:00 pm
M Fyrstenberg (POL) / M Matkowski (POL) vs A Dolgopolov (UKR) / D Tursunov (RUS) – ATP
D Istomin (UZB) vs S Giraldo (COL) – ATP
[Q] J Pegula (USA) vs A Petkovic (GER) – WTA
G Dimitrov (BUL) / M Llodra (FRA) vs M Mirnyi (BLR) / H Tecau (ROU) – ATP

COURT 1 start 4:00 pm
P Ormaechea (ARG) vs [WC] B Capra (USA) – WTA
J Cepelova (SVK) vs K Bertens (NED) – WTA
X Malisse (BEL) vs R Ram (USA) – ATP
M Alvarez Teran (BOL) / K Wong (USA) vs A Bhargava (USA) / A Weinhold (USA) – WTA

COURT 2 start 4:00 pm
A Mueller (USA) / A Perez (VEN) vs A Riske (USA) / N Slater (GBR) – WTA
D Goffin (BEL) vs Y Lu (TPE) – ATP
L Lacko (SVK) vs A Falla (COL) – ATP

—Steve Fogleman