Dominik Koepfer

Sold Out Citi Open Saturday Play Sizzles; Tournament Steps Up to Match @Andy_Murray Ukraine Relief Funds

Steve Fogleman in Washington

WASHINGTON–The opening day of the 2022 Citi Open was one of the most action-packed days I’ve witnessed in over 20 years of attendance at the pro tennis tournament at Rock Creek Park in Washington. In years past, qualifying weekend was a somewhat low key affair, with free tickets and food and bouncy houses to attract families to the event. Last year, the King of Clay featured a qualifying weekend sellout and a packed stadium for Rafael Nadal’s practice sessions. So I was a little surprised to see a full house today to cheer on American players trying to make it into the main draw and watch practice sessions for Venus Williams, Simona Halep and others.

I almost missed the first match of the day as Tulane alum Dominik Koepfer needed only 42 minutes to dispatch Ryan Colby, 6-0, 6-0. Tomorrow, Koepfer will look for a main draw berth with a win against 19-year-old Shintaro Mochizuki, who advanced 6-1, 6-2 against American Alex Lawson.

Michael Mmoh, who has roots in the Washington area, routined his compatriot Raymond Sarmiento, 6-4, 6-2, and will square off against fellow American J.C. Aragone, who needed three sets to knock off Bruno Kuzuhara, 6-3, 6-7(3), 6-4.

The women’s top qualifying seed Xiyu Wang topped Jamie Loeb, 6-4, 6-1, and the seeded women’s qualifiers did quite well today, with Heather Watson (3), Catherine McNally (7) and Sachia Vickery (8) all advancing to a final tomorrow. A notable exception was the 6 seed, Yue Yuan, who lost in three sets to Louisa Chirico on Stadium Court.

An announcement by @CitiOpen owner Mark Ein that the tournament will match the donations made by @andy_murray for Ukraine relief. 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/fqIVOvluUb
— TennisAtlantic (@TennisAtlantic) July 30, 2022

And finally, Citi Open tournament owner Mark Ein had a special announcement of the top of Andy Murray’s pre-tournament press conference at noon today. Murray, who has earmarked his summer tour earnings for Ukraine relief funding, will have his donations matched by the tournament. Murray had preciously announced that he would donate his tour earnings to the UNICEF Ukraine fund and now has double the reason to keep winning.

Kyle Edmund, 2020 New York Open (Photo: TennisAtlantic.com)

Favorites Advance in Tuesday @NewYorkOpen Action
Steve Fogleman at the Ancestral Home of the New York Islanders

A second day of rain did nothing but make you feel better about yourself for coming out to watch indoor tennis. And the weather outside did nothing to dampen the confidence of today’s winners.

Jordan Thompson, 2020 New York Open (Photo: TennisAtlantic.com)

Borat Sagdiyev

Jordan Thompson played Ivo Karlovic’s game and beat him at it in straight sets, 6-3, 7-6(2). While serving only 6 aces to Karlovic’s 11, the mustachioed Australian won an amazing 86% of his first service points and was never broken. From one big man to another, Thompson moves on to face American John Isner.

Soonwoo Kwon, 2020 New York Open (Photo: TennisAtlantic.com)

Soonwoo Kwon doused the hopes of qualifier Go Soeda, 6-2, 6-7(2), 6-3, after Soeda snuck up and took the second set tiebreak. Kwon nailed six aces in the third set after only four aces in the first two stanzas. Kwon’s service game will next have to match up against the tournament’s #2 seed Milos Raonic.

Paolo “Houdini” Lorenzo

Paolo Lorenzi pulled a Pure Houdini today. He was down a set and a break to World #159 Danilo Petrovic, the lowest ranked player in the main draw. Petrovic, who was two games away from winning his first ATP Tour main draw match, disputed a call in the 8th game and continued to argue through the break and into the third set, where he was destroyed by Lorenzi, 6-0. Someone on twitter accused him of match-fixing, but I saw a guy out there who desperately wanted to win his first (at 28 years old) and he simply unraveled. Lorenzi, a quarterfinalist last year, faces Kecmanovic for a chance to return to New York’s Elite Eight.

You know that one match that you see on an Order of Play and you say, “that’s my match?” Me too. Yesterday, that match was Kecmanovic-Paul. And it disappointed. Today was no different. Today’s “my match” was Dominik Koepfer and Brayden Schnur. Schnur, a finalist at last year’s New York Open, clearly had the weight of history on his racket. He could not deliver a repeat performance of his 2019 run, and although the chants of “Let’s go, Canada” were louder in the second set, they did little to raise his game. For his part, Koepfer was consistent throughout the 6-3, 6-4 win. Earlier, Kyle Edmund eased past Yasatuka Uchiyama and will play Dominik Koepfer in the second round. That’s all for me until the quarterfinals on Friday here at NYCB Live, home of the Nassau Coliseum. See you on Valentine’s Day from the Guy-land.