Qualifying Complete @CitiOpen: @RyanHarrison92, @NaomiBroady Interviews, Monday OOP
Steve Fogleman, Tennis Atlantic
Ryan Harrison qualified for the main draw at Citi Open today, and became the only ATP American man to do so. Harrison upended Mischa Zverev 6-3, 7-6(3).
Darian King, you’re from Barbados? It’s always been close enough for us! King, who I last saw in Charlottesville (where he was defaulted for not hitting a linesman with his racket toss), played a solid match against Ze Zhang, taking the match back into his own hands each time Zhang attempted to pull ahead.
In the last match of the day, American Sanaz Marand pulled a rabbit out of her hat in outlasting #2 qualifying seed Elizaveta Kulichkova 7-6(9), 7-6(6).
The Belarussian you expected in the main draw (Vika) couldn’t make it, but An-Sophie Mestach was happy to become the second Belgian there as she advanced to the main draw at Citi Open with a sound thrashing of Tamira Paszek. Does that make any sense? As for expectations as the top seed in qualifying, Mestach said “the last couple of tournaments I’ve played, I’ve been the first seed. It doesn’t make a difference. Tamira Paszek, she’s been injured but she’s coming back. I knew it wasn’t going to be an easy match.”
Mestach will play doubles with fellow Belgian main draw participant Alison Van Uytanck.
Naomi Broady is such an amazing person. She has put up with too much, having been both an early adopter and early victim of social media. England’s Lawn Tennis Association tried to pretend like she didn’t exist, but indeed she does. She spoke with me today about the challenges of going it alone when your national association turns their back on you for something that wouldn’t even register today on the internet. Don’t even get me started about those national associations, USTA. Oh, and yes, Broady qualified big time for Citi Open, beating Aliaksandra Sasnovich 3&3 today. 24 aces and straight sets on the weekend. Take that, you stodgy posh toffs at the LTA. She got on without you. Imagine that.
Nothing like a little love and affection to end a post. Tomorrow awaits!
CITI OPEN – WASHINGTON, D.C., USA
USD 1,753,020.00 (ATP)
USD 250,000.00 (WTA)
3 – 9 AUGUST 2015
ORDER OF PLAY – MONDAY, AUGUST 03, 2015
STADIUM COURT start 1:50 pm
WTA – [WC] L. Chirico (USA) vs H. Watson (GBR)
Not Before 4:00 pm
ATP – J. Duckworth (AUS) vs [Q] R. Harrison (USA)
Not Before 5:30 pm
ATP – [Q] Y. Nishioka (JPN) vs A. Zverev (GER)
Not Before 7:30 pm
ATP – D. Young (USA) vs [WC] T. Haas (GER)
ATP – [3] R. Bopanna (IND) / F. Mergea (ROU) vs A. Murray (GBR) / D. Nestor (CAN)
GRANDSTAND 1 start 2:15 pm
WTA – M. Brengle (USA) vs [6] I. Begu (ROU)
Not Before 4:00 pm
ATP – D. Sela (ISR) vs H. Chung (KOR)
Not Before 5:00 pm
ATP – [PR] G. Dimitrov (BUL) / M. Fish (USA) vs V. Pospisil (CAN) / J. Sock (USA)
WTA – [WC] T. Townsend (USA) vs I. Falconi (USA)
WTA – [8] Z. Diyas (KAZ) vs L. Davis (USA)
GRANDSTAND 2 start 4:00 pm
ATP – V. Estrella Burgos (DOM) vs [WC] N. Jarry (CHI)
ATP – [Q] M. Matosevic (AUS) vs R. Bemelmans (BEL)
WTA – S. Aoyama (JPN) / E. Hozumi (JPN) vs E. Bogdan (ROU) / N. Broady (GBR)
WTA – [5] A. Cornet (FRA) vs [Q] A. Mestach (BEL)
COURT 1 start 4:00 pm
WTA – K. Nara (JPN) vs Y. Putintseva (KAZ)
Not Before 5:30 pm
WTA-After Suitable Rest – [4] B. Bencic (SUI) / K. Mladenovic (FRA) vs I. Begu (ROU) / C. Vandeweghe (USA)
ATP – T. Gabashvili (RUS) vs B. Becker (GER)
COURT 2 start 4:00 pm
WTA – M. Niculescu (ROU) vs L. Arruabarrena (ESP)
ATP – [Q] D. King (BAR) vs G. Soeda (JPN)
ATP – R. Berankis (LTU) vs Y. Lu (TPE)
RESULTS – AUGUST 02, 2015
Mens
Qualifying Singles – Second Round
Qualifying – [10] Y. Nishioka (JPN) d [3] I. Dodig (CRO) 76(2) 63
Qualifying – [5] G. Pella (ARG) d [WC] E. Quigley (USA) 63 64
Qualifying – [9] J. Smith (AUS) d [6] A. Gonzalez (COL) 76(3) 61
Qualifying – [7] R. Harrison (USA) d [Alt] M. Zverev (GER) 63 76(3)
Qualifying – M. Matosevic (AUS) d [Alt] T. Niki (JPN) 62 64
Qualifying – [Alt] D. King (BAR) d [Alt] Z. Zhang (CHN) 75 63
Mens
Qualifying Doubles – Second Round
Qualifying – [2] A. Krajicek (USA) / N. Monroe (USA) d [1] T. Huey (PHI) / S. Lipsky (USA) 46 63 10-8
Women’s
Qualifying Singles – Second Round
Qualifying – [1] A. Mestach (BEL) d T. Paszek (AUT) 62 61
Qualifying – N. Broady (GBR) d [3] A. Sasnovich (BLR) 63 63
Qualifying – [6] J. Glushko (ISR) d [4] A. Kalinina (UKR) 62 64
Qualifying – S. Marand (USA) d [2] E. Kulichkova (RUS) 76(9) 76(6)
Tennis Atlantic 