Life on Tour with Jean-Yves Aubone (@JYNole): February 2015 Update #2
Jean-Yves Aubone, Tennis Atlantic
February 2015 Update #2-Atlanta,Georgia, USA
For two full years I’ve been training and staying in shape. I take two months off of tennis because of an injury and the first few days are as if I’ve never trained at any point in my life. I’ve always been astonished at how easy it is for someone to lose their fitness and how difficult it is to get it back. It really isn’t fair. During the last few weeks of recovery from my achilles bursitis I went through some swim and weight lifting programs to get my fitness back. Unfortunately, there is no substitute for a normal training program that is tailored for professional athletes. On the first day back at Ginepri Performance Tennis Academy in Atlanta I found myself getting my tail kicked by a few of the 14 and 15 year olds in the gym. Not only was I slower than them but they were using heavier weights than me! I felt so pathetic that sometimes I just had to laugh. It was a very humbling experience, but I knew it was just part of the process of getting back to professional shape.
JY doing single leg box jumps
As tough as it’s been to get my fitness levels up, it’s been even tougher getting my movement back. When I first started to practice I realized that I still had some discomfort in my achilles. After roughly 7 weeks off this should not have been the case. Both my strength/conditioning coach (Paul Fortunato from Ozone Fitness) and my physical therapist (Barbara Vaughn from SET Physical Therapy) watched me play and noticed that I needed to change the biomechanics of how I run. I was using my calf/achilles/foot area as my main source of energy when going to hit the next shot. This was causing a continuous aggravation of my achilles bursitis. I should have been using my glutes as my main source of energy. In order to achieve this I needed to make sure I was maintaining the athletic position while I moved. Once I’m in the athletic position the hips are loaded correctly and my glutes become my main source of energy. This relieves pressure from the lower leg area and allows me to be lighter and quicker.
To make this adjustment on court I’ve had to go through some practices just doing basic beginner basket feeding drills at a very slow place. If I tried to go too fast then I would move incorrectly and start to feel some discomfort in the achilles area. I spent a lot of time practicing with Robby Ginepri and at first there were many times when I struggled to continue long rallies. My feet couldn’t keep up. If I did keep up it was because I was moving incorrectly causing more discomfort. In the gym we focused a lot on strengthening the glutes through exercises such as single leg dead lifts and lunges.
There were definitely some moments of frustration during this training block. We are always making technical or strategical adjustments in my game but relearning how to move is a rare one. Throw in the fear of re-injuring myself and my patience was definitely tested. I’ll never forget how happy I was when I first started to really feel a big improvement with my movement. It was about two weeks in to my training and I was in the middle of my first full on practice set at Georgia Tech against one of their players. In between one of the points I turned to my coach Joseph O’Dwyer and said, “man, I’m losing but I’m so happy to be playing.”
The second day of main draw play at the Winston-Salem open brought the first round to conclusion and saw fifth seed Guillermo Garcia-Lopez open the second round in the night session. The day’s play was on the whole a level higher than Sunday’s, with a number of exceptional clashes and notable names.
The day session was opened with defending champion Jurgen Melzer falling to qualifier David Goffin 6-3 6-4. Melzer, who would later lose in the first round of doubles as well, will see his ranking fall outside the top 100 after an injury-plagued last twelve months. Goffin, meanwhile, continues an incredible run of form that saw him win his first title in Kitzbuhel.
On court two, Jerzy Janowicz put up an impressive performance against Carlos Berlocq. Although the two are close in the rankings currently, Berlocq was a serious underdog on the quick hard courts of Winston-Salem and looked lost in the first set before steadying himself slightly in the second. Janowicz, however, simply had too much power for Berlocq to absorb in the end, and won 6-1 6-4.
Janowicz dispatches Berlocq
On court three, Federico Delbonis pulled off an upset victory over a superior hard-courter in Martin Klizan, 7-6(5) 6-4. Klizan produced nearly all of the match’s best shots and received almost universal crowd support, but was too erratic and dealt with Delbonis’s impressive serving too poorly to prevail. On the distant court four, Igor Sijsling defeated Andrey Golubev in a tight two-setter. Golubev failed to take advantage of poor volleying by Sijsling and allowed himself to be outrallied by the Dutchman, surrendering his serve from 40-0 for the decisive break in a 7-6(5) 6-3 match.
Delbonis had one of the first big upsets of the tournament
In what was surprisingly possibly the day’s best match, Frank Dancevic faced off against Thomaz Bellucci. Both players’ smooth and powerful serves and groundstrokes drew a larger crowd than one would expect on the third court, and Dancevic produced a number of stunning backhands equaled by a stream of Bellucci winners off the forehand wing. An extended rally saw Dancevic take a very tight first set, but Bellucci rebounded to take the second set with ease. In the end, it was the Canadian who prevailed in a three-set match interrupted by rain with Bellucci down break point in the third set, 7-5 3-6 6-2.
Canadian veteran Frank Dancevic survived a test from Bellucci
Around the grounds, there was plenty of action to be had between spurts of rain which included what was nearly a two-hour delay. Adrian Mannarino easily put away an erratic Damir Dzumhur 6-2 6-2. Aleksandr Nedovyesov crushed American hopes with a close 6-4 6-4 win over Marcos Giron in which the American was a dismal 1/7 on break chances. Blaz Rola prevailed in two tight sets over fellow leftie Wayne Odesnik, 7-6(3) 6-3. In one of the day’s two second round matches, Jarkko Nieminen came from a break down in the second to defeat Benjamin Becker 7-5 6-4.
Mannarino showed great form against Dzumhur
On Center Court, the night session was led into with a pair of low quality matches, Paul-Henri Mathieu’s messy 6-3 7-5 win over wild card Robby Ginepri and Sam Querrey’s 7-6(5) 6-4 win over Pere Riba, who is unimposing on a hard court. However, the first set of Dustin Brown taking on fifth seed Guillermo Garcia-Lopez was probably the highest quality and most dramatic of the event thusfar. Brown’s big serve and beautiful volleys were pitted against Garcia-Lopez’s capable return and piercing groundstrokes off both wings. Brown saved two set points with two aces at 4-5, and took the tiebreak 7-5 after a Garcia-Lopez double fault. Brown’s resistance would fade, however, in the next two sets, with a lackluster final scoreline of 6-7(5) 6-2 6-2.
The doubles draw got underway today with some upset results. The second seeded team of Rohan Bopanna and defending champion Daniel Nestor lost in a pair of tiebreaks to the Columbians Cabal and Farah. Melzer was handed his second loss of the day as he and partner Lukas Rosol lost to Marcel Granollers and his unaccomplished partner, singles specialist Pablo Andujar 7-6(3) 2-6 10-4, with Melzer making a number of errors on critical points. The wild card team of Nicholas Monroe and Donald Young upset the Argentines Delbonis and Leonardo Mayer 7-6(4) 7-5. Robin Haase and Nicolas Mahut defeated Scott Lipsky and Max Mirnyi 7-5 6-4 in a match that may have been decided when Mirnyi missed a sitting duck volley at 5-5 40-40 in the first.
Tomorrow will be the day that fourteen of the event’s 16 seeds begin their campaigns. This includes two-time champion and hometown John Isner, whose practices are better attended than some of the main draw matches, and last week’s Cincy quarterfinalist Tommy Robredo, as well as the top seeded doubles pairing of Leander Paes (the other half of last year’s winning doubles team) and David Marrero. The forecast calls for more rain, but hopefully that will not prevent all the day’s tennis from being played.
Tuesday was a watershed day for this Big Top Tournament in L’il Mason. I say ‘watershed’, because that’s when the humidity started to drop out of the region as the action at the Western & Southern Open heats up.
Robby Ginepri Wins at Cincinnati
First, the bad news: Defending champ Vika Azarenka withdrew, citing a right knee injury. Oddly, when the announcement came over the PA system late this morning, the fans didn’t seem to feel cheated or even worried at all. There are just too many players and too many matches going on here to let that get anyone down.
Lucky Loser Mona Barthel, who took Azarenka’s place, quickly dropped the first part of the title and was a Loser to Barbara Zahlavova Stryckova, 7-5 6-0.
On the men’s side, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga was the big bummer du jour. The Toronto champion was heavily fatigued in a meltdown of an effort from the Frenchman, falling 6-1, 6-4 to Mikhail Youzhny.
Notable Men’s Winners included James Ward, Steve Johnson, Ernests Gulbis, Novak Djokovic…
Stan Wawrinka:
Stan Wawrinka almost got away from me at the Western & Southern Open after the French press hogged him for five minutes. The world #4 talks to me momentarily about his win over Benjamin Becker and looks forward to the US Open.
Andreas Seppi:
Andreas Seppi scored a comeback win over Santiago Giraldo in Mason today. After giving away the first set with 4 double faults, he settled down to win 6-4, 2-6, 7-5. He was pretty excited today when I spoke to him after the match, especially since he’s never done well here in Cincinnati. He faces Youzhny tomorrow instead of the expected Tsonga, due to Youzhny’s win over the Toronto champ today.
Robby Ginepri:
American veteran Robby Ginepri is a Wild Card Bubble Boy. He needs all the wins he can get these days as he basically auditions for a Wild Card to the US Open. He got one today over upstart Dominic Thiem to pad the WC resume. Ginepri gets Milos Raonic tomorrow, should he want to find himself over-qualified for the wild card.
and Vasek Pospisil.
After a first round three set win over Radek Stepanek in Cincinnati today, Pospisil was relieved to get through as he continues a very successful summer tour in the US Open Series. He particularly enjoyed having the crowd behind him throughout the match and said he “fed off” them to get through.
Which brings me to my in-post gripe of the day. I notice that every time publicists from the USTA ask Vasek Pospisil anything, it’s about how Jack Sock really fires him up to play better. It’s always about doubles, Sock, doubles. And how awesome is it to play with our player. Forget that Pospisil was the DC finalist ten days ago. Big American Tennis wants him forever known as part of a highly marketable duo down here South of the Border. I should just print up ‘US: Hands Off Vasek Pospisil’ stickers. But he is a good player and friendly guy, so I can see why any country would want to plant their flag on Vashy.
Pospisil will play Roger Federer tomorrow, and I’m thinking this will be much more competitive match than anyone imagined three months ago.
Pospisil Cincinnati
ORDER OF PLAY – WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 13, 2014
CENTER COURT
Starting at 11:00 am
ATP – [8] Andy Murray (Great Britain) vs. Joao Sousa (Portugal)
Not before 1:00 pm
WTA – [1] Serena Williams (USA) vs. Samantha Stosur (Australia)
ATP – [2] Roger Federer (Switzerland) vs. Vasek Pospisil (Canada)
Not before 7:00 pm
WTA – [7] Eugenie Bouchard (Canada) vs Svetlana Kuznetsova (Russia)
Not before 8:30 pm
ATP – Gael Monfils (France) vs. [13] Roberto Bautista Agut (Spain)
GRANDSTAND start 11:00 am
WTA – [3] Petra Kvitova (Czech Republic) vs Elina Svitolina (Ukraine)
ATP – [11] John Isner (USA) vs [Q] Marinko Matosevic (Australia)
Not before 3:00 pm
WTA – [4] Agnieszka Radwanska (Poland) vs Kurumi Nara (Japan)
Not Before 7:00 pm
ATP – [5] Milos Raonic (Canada) vs. [Q] Robby Ginepri (USA)
ATP – [4] Ivan Dodig (Croatia) / Marcelo Melo (Brazil) vs. Robert Lindstedt (Sweden) / Marcin Matkowski (Poland)
COURT 3 start 11:00 am
ATP – [7] Grigor Dimitrov (Bulgaria) vs Jerzy Janowicz (Poland)
ATP – [WC] Sam Querry (USA) vs [16] Tommy Robredo (Spain)
ATP – [15] Fabio Fognini (Italy) vs. Lleyton Hewitt (Australia)
WTA – [Q] Taylor Townsend (USA) vs [13] Flavia Pennetta (Italy)
Not Before 7:00 pm
WTA – [9] Ana Ivanovic (Serbia) vs [WC] Christina McHale (USA)
COURT 9 start 11:00 am
ATP – [4] Tomas Berdych (Czech Republic) vs Yen-Hsun Lu (Taipei)
Not Before 1:30pm
WTA – Barbora Zahlavova Strycova (Czech Republic) vs Sloane Stephens (USA)
ATP – [6] David Ferrer (Spain) vs Phillipp Kohlschreiber (Germany)
ATP [9] Ernests Gulbis (Latvia) vs [WC] Steve Johnson (USA)
WTA – [8] Jelena Jankovic (Serbia) vs [Q] Annika Beck (Germany)
COURT 4 start 11:00 am
WTA – [6] Angelique Kerber (Germany) vs Ekaterina Makarova (Russia)
WTA – [14] Sara Errani (Italy) vs Sabine Lisicki (Germany)
ATP – [14] Marin Cilic (Croatia) vs Fernando Verdasco (Spain)
WTA-(after suitable rest) [1] Sara Errani (Italy) / Roberta Vinci (Italy) vs Daniela Hantuchova (Slovakia) / Barbora Zahlavova Strycova (Czech Republic)
WTA – [3] Kveta Peschke (Czech Republic)/Katarina Srebotnik (Slovakia) vs Kimiko Date-Krumm (Japan) / Andrea Hlavackova (Czech Republic)
COURT 6 start 11:00 am
ATP – Mikhail Youzhny (Russia) vs Andreas Seppi (Italy)
WTA – [15] Carla Suarez Navarro (Spain) vs [Q] Pauline Parmentier (France)
WTA – [16] Lucie Safarova (Czech Republic) vs [Q] Zarina Diyas (Kazakhstan)
WTA – Klaudia Jan-Ignacik (Poland) / Karolina Pliskova (Czech Republic) vs [6] Timea Babos (Hungary) / Kristina Mladenovic (France)
COURT 7 start 11:00 am
ATP – Feliciano Lopez (Spain)/Jurgen Melzer (Austria) vs Eric Butorac (USA) / Raven Klassen (Russia)
ATP – Julien Benneteau (France) vs [Q] James Ward (Great Britain)
WTA- (after suitable rest) Gabriela Dabrowski (Canada) / Alicja Rosolska (Poland) vs [5] Ekaterina Makarova (Russia) / Elena Vesnina (Russia)
Not Before 3:00pm
WTA (after suitable rest) – Samantha Stosur (Australia) / Shuai Zhang (China) vs Marina Erakovic (New Zealand) / Arantxa Parra Santonja (Spain)
ATP – Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (Spain) / Santiago Giraldo (Colombia) vs [3] Daniel Nestor (Canada)/Nenad Zimonjic (Serbia)
COURT 10 start 11:00 am
ATP – Jean-Julien Rojer (Netherlands) / Horia Tecau (Romania) vs [7] Marcel Granollers (Spain) / Marc Lopez (Spain)
Not Before 12:30pm
WTA – [Q] Karin Knapp (Italy) vs Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (Russia)
WTA – Anabel Medina Garrigues (Spain) / Yaroslava Shvedova (Kahzakhstan) vs Andrea Petkovic (Germany) / Magdalena Rybarikova (Slovakia)
ATP – [6] Julien Benneteau (France) / Edouard Roger-Vasselin (France) vs Juan Sebastian Cabal (Colombia) / Tommy Robredo (Spain)
ATP (after suitable rest) – [5] Leander Paes (India)/Radek Stepanek (Czech Republic) vs Vasek Pospisil (Canada)/ Jack Sock (USA)
Results – Tuesday, August 12, 2014
Men’s Singles – First Round
[9] Ernests Gulbis (Latvia) d Ivan Dodig (Croatia) 76(8) 76(4)
Mikhail Youzhny (Russia) d [12] Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (France) 61 64
[13] Roberto Bautista Agut (Spain) d Martin Klizan (Slovakia) 62 46 75
[14] Marin Cilic (Croatia) d Feliciano Lopez (Spain) 63 64
Vasek Pospisil (Canada) d Radek Stepanek (Czech Republic) 75 61 76(4)
Andreas Seppi (Italy) d Santiago Giraldo (Colombia) 46 62 75
[WC] Robby Ginepri (USA) d Dominic Thiem (Austria) 63 57 75
[WC] Steve Johnson (USA) d [Q] Benoit Paire (France) 64 61
[Q] James Ward (Great Britain) d Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (Spain) 62 36 61
Julien Benneteau (France) d [LL] Blaz Rola (Slovenia) 76(7) 63 76(7)
Men’s Singles – Second Round
[1] Novak Djokovic (Serbia) d Gilles Simon (France) 64 46 64
[3] Stan Wawrinka (Switzerland) d [Q] Benjamin Becker (Germany) 63 76(5)
Men’s Doubles – First Round
Juan Sebastian Cabal (Colombia) / Tommy Robredo (Spain) d Philipp Kohlschreiber (Germany) / Gael Monfils (France) 57 63 10-3
Vasek Pospisil (Canada) / Jack Sock (USA) d Rohan Bopanna (India) / Aisam-Ul-Haq-Qureshi (Pakistan) 75 62
Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (Spain) / Santiago Giraldo (Romania) d Fabio Fognin (Italy) / Mariusz Fyrstenberg (Poland) 36 64 10-3
Marin Cilic (Croatia) / Santiago Gonzalez (Mexico) d Treat Huey (Czech Republic) / Dominic Inglot (Great Britain) 63 36 10-5
Robert Lindstedt (Sweden) / Marcin Matkowski (Poland) d [Alt.] Jamie Murray (Great Britain) / John Peers (Australlia) 57 63 10-3
Women’s Singles – First Round
[14] Sara Errani (Italy) d [Q] Yanina Wickmayer (Belgium) 75 36 76(2)
[15] Carla Suarez Navarro (Spain) d Tsvetana Pironkova (Bulgaria) 63 16 62
[16] Lucie Safarova (Czech Republic) d Venus Williams (USA) 67(2) 63 64
Svetlana Kuznetsova (Russia) d Camila Giorgi (Italy) 64 67(4) 63
Sloane Stephens (USA) d Andrea Petkovic (Germany) 63 63
Kurumi Nara (Japan) d Romina Oprandi (Switzerland) 60 62
Daniela Hantuchova (Slovakia) d Ekaterina Makarova (Russia) 62 62
Sabine Lisicki (Germany) d Roberta Vinci (Italy) 63 26 62
[WC] Christina McHale (USA) d [Q] Nicole Gibbs (USA) 46 63 61
[Q] Zarina Diyas (Kazakhstan) d [Q] Irina-Camelia Begu (Romania) 76(4) 76(5)
[Q] Annika Beck (Germany) d Garbine Muguruza (Spain) 63 26 63
Barbora Zahlavova Strycova (Czech Republic) d [L] Mona Barthel (Germany) 75 60
Women’s Singles – Second Round
[2] Simona Halep (Romania) d Kirsten Flipkens (Belgium) 64 62
[5] Maria Sharapova (Russia) d Madison Keys (USA) 61 36 63
[12] Caroline Wozniacki (Denmark) d Shuai Zhang (China) 62 63
Women’s Doubles – First Round
[6] Timea Babos (Hungary) / Kristina Mladenovic (Russia) d Julia Goerges (Germany) / Anna-Lena Groenefeld (Germany) 62 63
[8] Alla Kudryavtseva (Russia) / Anastasia Rodionova (Australia) d Hao-Ching (Chinese Tapei) / Yung-Jan Chan (Chinese Tapei) 64 64
[WC] Melanie Oudin (USA)/ Taylor Townsend (USA) d Jelena Jankovic (Serbia) / Klara Koukalova (Czech Republic) 06 60 11-9
Kimiko Date-Krumm (Japan) / Andrea Hlavackova (Czech Republic) d Casey Dellacqua (Australia) / Mirjana Lucic-Baroni (Croatia) 36 61 10-3
Martina Hingis (Switzerland) / Flavia Pennetta (Italy) d Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (Russia) / Lucie Safarova (Czech Republic) 76(8) 16 10-6
Krueger, Ginepri, Thompson Nab Main Draw Wild Cards @TennisHalloFame
Ginepri (Photo: Tally Challenger)
NEWPORT, R.I., July 5, 2014 – Wild cards for the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships in Newport, R.I. have been awarded to past champion Robby Ginepri, and young Americans Mitchell Krueger and Clay Thompson, both of whom are making their ATP World Tour main draw debut.
“Newport has a long history of welcoming young players who have gone on to have highly successful careers, and we are happy to welcome Mitchell and Clay for their main draw debuts on the ATP World Tour. Robby has always had many fans in Newport. We look forward to having him back in Newport as he continues his comeback,” commented Tournament Director Mark Stenning.
Robby Ginepri is no stranger to the grass courts in Newport, where he reached his first ATP World Tour semifinal in 2002, and captured the title in 2003. He reached the second round two other times, compiling a 10-3 record for the event. This will be his fifth appearance in Newport, and first since 2009. Ginepri is a three-time champion on the ATP World Tour, having also won titles at Indianapolis in 2005 and 2009. A 13 year ATP World Tour veteran, Ginepri has been focused on a comeback this season after an elbow injury had him sidelined for the better part of last year. Earlier this season, he won the title at the Tallahassee Challenger and successfully qualified for Houston and Indian Wells.
Southern California native Clay Thompson just wrapped up a successful four year career for UCLA. He played No. 3 for the Bruins as a freshman, No. 1 as a sophomore, and No. 5 as a junior, due to an injury, before returning to the top spot as a senior. He had an 18-1 senior season, and was the No. 1 ranked player in the ITA rankings from January to May. Thompson closed the season at No. 2 in the ITA rankings, just behind teammate Marcos Giron. While at UCLA, Thompson earned multiple All-Pac-12 team selections and he was the 2014 Pac-12 Tennis Scholar Athlete of the Year.
Mitchell Krueger, age 20, is the youngest player in the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships main draw. He is ranked world No. 330 and has been climbing up the world rankings due to his success in ITF Futures tournaments, including three finishes as a finalist this season. Last season, Krueger, won the title at a Futures event in The Netherlands. In 2012, he reached a career high of world No. 5 in the ITF Juniors rankings and was the No.1 American junior.
Atlanta Day 2: Amritraj upsets Devvarman, Ginepri comes back from a set down to defeat Dadamo, Young Advances
July 21, 2013–Atlanta had good weather today and tournament organizers were able to get everything finished on time with 2nd round qualifying.
The big match of the day was Prakash Amritraj’s 6-3, 6-4 upset of Somdev Devvarman in an all Indian battle out on Court 3. Amritraj overpowered Devvarman, and it was simply a bad matchup for him as Amritraj was able to push him off the court. Prakash’s aggressive play was error-free enough to get it done with a pair of breaks and consistent holding of serve.
Robby Ginepri came back from a set down and avenged his Winnetka challenger retirement against Jeff Dadamo 3-6, 6-1, 6-3. Dadamo opened strong, but basically fell apart the final 2 sets, especially at the end, allowing Ginepri to win again in front of home fans and reach the 3rd round of qualifying.
Zverev
Mischa Zverev won on double duty today, 6-4, 6-3 over Nathan Rakitt and 6-3, 6-3 over Takura Happy, relying on serve and punching volleys to get him through both matches. Happy won his Round 1 qualifying match before that by a score of 6-1, 6-2 over Eric Sock.
Ebden post match
Matt Ebden cruised to a double breadstick over Dean O’Brien 6-1, 6-1.Tim Smyczek beat Mitchell Frank 6-1,6-4. Kevin King beat Tyler Hochwalt, 6-7, 7-6, 6-1. Chris Guccione used his serve and cut off angles against Yuichi Sugita to win 6-4, 6-2. Donald Young overcame a slow start against Saketh Myneni 7-6, 6-3.
The final round qualifying matches will be contested between Ebden-Guccione in all Aussie battle, Smyczek-Young in an All-American battle, Amritraj-Zverev, and Ginepri-King in an all Atlanta battle.
Frank Outduels Pasha; Ginepri, Young Look Strong To Open Day 1 @BBTAtlantaOpen
It was very hot from the start and Day 1 Qualifying was hassled by intermittent rain showers in the afternoon, but a host of talented players made strong starts on their qualifying efforts.
Mitchell Frank (Photo: Steen Kirby)
The best match of the day was between Mitchell Frank and Nathan Pasha. Pasha used his power game to work over Frank and take the first set 6-3, but Frank would prove more reliable in the 2nd set, as Pasha slipped up and dropped it 6-2. At this point, It was déjà vu for the University of Georgia standout, as he faced the same situation last year in Atlanta 1st round qualifying. Unfortunately for him, the result would be the same as Frank would hold his serve throughout the 3rd before getting a couple of lucky netcords to break and seal the match 6-4 in the 3rd.
Frank is a junkballer who uses a lot of slice and drop shots and has loopy strokes, but he tends to overplay points at times and extend them longer than he should, thus giving his opponents more chances and extending his time on court. He is certainly not the prototypical American player.
Somdev Devvarman dominated over Patrick Davidson 6-0, 6-2. Dev was toying with the American in the opening set, playing some unrelenting angles with considerable pace. Davidson would try and pick himself up in the 2nd set, but he never really had a chance from the start, as a confident Devvarman would advance to the next round of qualifying.
Before that match, Kevin King upset Jimmy Wang 7-6, 1-0 with a retirement. Wang served for the opening set twice but was broken both times, then double faulted to end the tiebreak. Just a game later, he retired. He was not looking physically bad at the time that I saw him, but he was certainly mentally out of it.
In the other match I fully watched, Robby Ginepri looked just fine in his opening round qualifying match, rolling past a cramping Andrew Carter, 6-3, 6-1. Ginepri was simply less error-prone, and Carter mightily struggled to get his first serves in even before cramping, proving not to be that difficult of a test for the Georgia resident.
In other action:
Tim Smyczek beat Luke Saville 6-1, 6-3, as the Aussie couldn’t convert any of his 10 break point chances during the match.
Saketh Myneni set up a meeting with his countryman Devvarman by beating Marcelo Demoliner 6-3, 7-5.
Prakash Amritraj blitzed Jason Jung 6-2, 6-0.
Tyler Hochwalt beat Jean-Yves Aubone 6-3, 6-4.
Jeff Dadamo beat Christopher Eubanks 6-2, 6-3 in under an hour.
Chris Guccione prevailed over Mark Verryth 7-5, 6-2.
Donald Young was collected against Catalin Gard 6-2, 6-2.
Matt Ebden recovered from a slow start to win 6-4, 6-1 over Santiago Gonzalez.
Yuichi Sugita got a lucky 2-6, 1-2 retirement against Andre Sa.
Dean O’Brien beat his friend Juan-Carlos Spir 7-6, 6-7, 6-2.
Today, 2nd round qualifying matches between Ebden-O’Brien, Guccione-Sugita, Smyczek-Frank, Devvarman-Amritraj, King-Hochwalt and Ginepri-Dadamo will take place, while Mischa Zverev-Nathan Rakittt and Takura Happy-Eric Sock will finish their first round qualifying matches that were scratched because of the rain. The winners will play a 2nd round qualies match against each other a few hours later.
There’s a big rematch today between Jesse Levine and Robby Ginepri on Stadium Court at CitiOpen in Washington. Last time these two played was for a main draw wild card to the Australian Open back at the USTA’s AO Wild Card Playoffs at Racquet Club of the South in Norcross, Georgia in December. Tennis East Coast was there for Levine’s victory lap in suburban Atlanta and I expect nothing less than a close match between the two.
