It’s not a grass tournament, but this is a nice touch.
Washington, DC–Top qualifying seed Rajeev Ram withdrew from the Citi Open qualifying tournament today with an unspecified injury shortly before his match was to begin. Alternate Sekou Bangoura came off the bench and played admirably, just failing to advance over Takuto Niki, who prevailed 6-3, 6-7(4), 7-6(7).
American Wild Card Robby Ginepri was one and done at Citi Open, losing in three to Yoshihito Nishioka.
Ginepri’s compatriots Quigley and Harrison made tomorrow’s qualifying finals.
Newport semifinalist J.P. Smith won with ease and Ivan Dodig survived a dogfight with the animated Liam Broady. It seems everywhere I go, Smith outperforms.
Smith
The Brits had it roughest, with Kyle Edmund, James Ward and Broady knocked out of qualifying today.
Naomi Broady, Liam’s sister, dispatched France’s Stephanie Foretz 7-5, 6-2.
Naomi Broady
American Sanaz Marand advanced while Lauren Embree lost in three sets to Anhelina Kalinina. 14-year-old Malkia Menguene, in her first pro qualifying match, succumbed to Aliaksandra Sasnovich.
But absolutely, Andy Murray’s practice was easily the most exciting thing that happened in Washington today. Fans mobbed him and he certainly seemed to like it. Unlike those other guys who keep a poker face, Andy was all smiles all the time. Who can blame the fans, some casual ones, who had never heard of more than half of the players in first round qualifying? Andy was worth the price of admission alone, and some kids even stood outside the venue to the opposite fence of Murray’s serve and pretended to have a speed gun. They barked out their estimates on the speed of each serve and elicited several more smiles from the Muzzer.
Andy Murray, Citi Open
ORDER OF PLAY – SUNDAY, AUGUST 02, 2015
STADIUM COURT start 10:00 am
ATP – Qualifying – [5] G. Pella (ARG) vs [WC] E. Quigley (USA)
ATP – Qualifying – [Alt] M. Zverev (GER) vs [7] R. Harrison (USA)
ATP – Qualifying – [3] I. Dodig (CRO) vs [10] Y. Nishioka (JPN)
WTA – Qualifying – [2] E. Kulichkova (RUS) vs S. Marand (USA)
GRANDSTAND 1 start 10:30 am
ATP – Qualifying – [6] A. Gonzalez (COL) vs [9] J. Smith (AUS)
ATP – Qualifying – [Alt] T. Niki (JPN) vs M. Matosevic (AUS)
WTA – Qualifying – [4] A. Kalinina (UKR) vs [6] J. Glushko (ISR)
ATP – Qualifying – [1] T. Huey (PHI) / S. Lipsky (USA) vs [2] A. Krajicek (USA) / N. Monroe (USA)
GRANDSTAND 2 start 10:00 am
ATP – Qualifying – [Alt] Z. Zhang (CHN) vs [Alt] D. King (BAR)
WTA – Qualifying – [1] A. Mestach (BEL) vs T. Paszek (AUT)
WTA – Qualifying – [3] A. Sasnovich (BLR) vs N. Broady (GBR)
RESULTS – AUGUST 01, 2015
Mens
Qualifying Singles – First Round
Qualifying – [Alt] M. Zverev (GER) d [2] [Alt] K. Edmund (GBR) 64 60
Qualifying – [3] I. Dodig (CRO) d L. Broady (GBR) 63 36 76(5)
Qualifying – [Alt] Z. Zhang (CHN) d [4] J. Ward (GBR) 64 57 64
Qualifying – [5] G. Pella (ARG) d [WC] J. Arconada (ARG) 64 64
Qualifying – [6] A. Gonzalez (COL) d [WC] R. Shane (USA) 36 63 62
Qualifying – [7] R. Harrison (USA) d G. Clezar (BRA) 63 67(2) 62
Qualifying – M. Matosevic (AUS) d [8] A. Krajicek (USA) 63 26 76(6)
Qualifying – [9] J. Smith (AUS) d [Alt] M. Pecotic (CRO) 62 64
Qualifying – [10] Y. Nishioka (JPN) d [WC] R. Ginepri (USA) 46 63 63
Qualifying – [Alt] D. King (BAR) d [11] S. Devvarman (IND) 62 57 62
Qualifying – [WC] E. Quigley (USA) d [12] Y. Sugita (JPN) 63 57 64
Qualifying – [Alt] T. Niki (JPN) d [Alt] S. Bangoura (USA) 63 67(4) 76(7)
Mens
Qualifying Doubles – First Round
Qualifying – [1] T. Huey (PHI) / S. Lipsky (USA) d B. Becker (GER) / L. Mayer (ARG) 63 62
Qualifying – [2] A. Krajicek (USA) / N. Monroe (USA) d [WC] A. Capitel (USA) / C. Moran (USA) 61 60
Women’s
Qualifying Singles – First Round
Qualifying – [1] A. Mestach (BEL) d H. Kuwata (JPN) 62 67(7) 61
Qualifying – [2] E. Kulichkova (RUS) d A. Lim (FRA) 63 62
Qualifying – [3] A. Sasnovich (BLR) d [WC] M. Menguene (USA) 61 60
Qualifying – [4] A. Kalinina (UKR) d L. Embree (USA) 61 67(4) 75
Qualifying – T. Paszek (AUT) d [5] E. Hozumi (JPN) 61 61
Qualifying – [6] J. Glushko (ISR) d [WC] N. Kukharchuk (RUS) 63 62
Qualifying – N. Broady (GBR) d [8] S. Foretz (FRA) 75 62
Qualifying – S. Marand (USA) d [Alt] Ar. Rodionova (AUS) 64 36 63
Tennis Atlantic 