Kuznetsov Keeps Har-Tru Wild Card Race Alive, Dancevic & McGee Grab Wins Indoors @TallyChallenger
Steen Kirby, Tennis East Coast
It was an interesting day at my final day of on-site coverage at the 2014 Tallahassee challenger. All of the singles matches were moved indoors at the FSU tennis complex, and because of that situation only 1 court of the 5 match courts was visible. Therefore, I only got to catch 2 matches up close and the better part of a third one, though that’s as good as anyone was able to do today.
Alex Kuznetsov kept the Har-Tru French Open wild card race alive, as he defeated Eric Quigley, 7-6 6-2 to get into round 2. Quigley was able to use his powerful serve to keep Kuznetsov at bay in the first and force a tiebreak, but he got bageled in that tiebreak and his game crumbled from there. Kuznetsov was able to move his way around returns and take control of the match.
Frank Dancevic annihilated a flummoxed Collin Altamirano, 6-2, 6-2 as Altamirano got way too frustrated and lost his composure throughout the match. Dancevic cooly kept things rolling, keeping the ball in play, and he is also into round 2.
James McGee, who is a super nice guy might I add, and lived up to the humble reputation I’d heard about many times before, won 6-2, 6-4 over Bjorn Fratangelo. Fratangelo seemed less comfortable moved off of clay and his game did not translate as well indoors as McGee, who simply overpowered him.
Joining McGee, Kuznetsov and Dancevic in round 2 are Darian King, who won 7-6, 6-3 over Cristian Gonzalez Mendez, who was literally playing on his home court today. Evan King beat Ryan Agar, 6-4 6-3, Bobby Reynolds beat Nick Meister, 6-2, 6-2 and Mitchell Krueger won in 3 sets via retirement due to a foot injury against Ilija Bozoljac. The final score was 2-6, 7-6, 2-0 as Krueger fought hard to not lose in straights.
Skugor/Veic beat Bozoljac/Venus 3-6, 6-4, 10-7 in doubles and Kokkinakis/Kubler beat Rice/Thornley, both teams reaching round 2 in matches played on outdoor clay at the original venue.
Because of the rainy weather, tomorrow’s tennis has again been moved indoors to the FSU complex, as all the round 2 matchups will take place there. Young vs. Evan King, Darian King vs. Kuznetsov, Dancevic vs. Veic, Reynolds vs. Melzer, Ward vs. Kubler, Ginepri vs. Polansky, McGee vs. Krueger and Williams vs. Nishioka. I see at least 3 matches there, possibly 4 where the result should be different because of the surface being played on.
This has been an interesting tournament to the say least, and I’ll be back after the final with a wrap up of everything.
For now, it was a pleasure being able to cover Tallahassee again and it remains a challenger with some great hospitality and wonderful tennis.
Tennis Atlantic 