CHARLOTTESVILLE– Is an upset where a seeded player is defeated by a lower seeded player or one with no seeding at all? If it is, then ATP Challenger tournaments like the Jonathan Fried Men’s Pro Challenger at the Boar’s Head in Charlottesville, Virginia are loaded with them.
Yesterday, the top three seeds, Rinky Hijikata, Liam Draxl and Patrick Kypson, all went down to defeat here, opening up the remaining field of semi-anonymous personnel. Although the toppling of seeds is not an uncommon occurence at challengers, the thinning of this herd comes after Charlottesville lost Jordan Thompson, Chris Eubanks, Brandon Holt and Alex Rybakov to withdrawals. Yet the tournament remains.
Yesterday’s first round match between Maks Kasnikowski and Mitchell Krueger went 3:05 in a three set win for the American, 6-4, 6-7(5), 7-6(5). When I mentioned to Krueger that his win might be the longest contest of the whole week, he agreed with me. “On indoor courts, it probably will be,” he said.
Daniil Glinka’s upset of Patrick Kypson, who had just won the Sioux Falls event last week, was the most consequential of the day. Kypson is currently in first place in the USTA Australian Open wild card challenge, but this loss may open the door for Eliot Spizzirri, who is currently in second place in the Melbourne chase and has already won his first round match at the Bratislava Open challenger today.
Qualifier Dhakshineswar Suresh punched the clock and commenced a workmanlike win over 2 seed Liam Draxl earlier in the day, 6-3, 6-3. Top seed Rinki Hijikata gave Matias Soto three sets before the Chilean pulled off the upset, 6-4, 5-7, 6-3.
Tennis Atlantic 
Return Serve?