First Round Singles Results:
Number 6 seed Jamie Baker (GBR) rallied after being down a break in the first set at 4-2 to defeat Maciek Sykut (USA) 7-5, 6-2. Sykut advanced into the main draw in the Lucky Loser spot after Julio Campozano (ECU) withdrew. The lucky loser is the highest ranked loser in the final round of qualifying. Baker, 25, is from Glasgow, Scotland and currently ranked 201 in the world. He has 1 futures win this year, and advanced to the semi-final of the Bath, Great Britain Challenger event.
Wild card Christian Harrison (USA) defeated Tennys (pronounced Tennis) Sandgren (USA) in a 2 hour and 45 minute match in the afternoon heat 7-6(2), 1-6, 7-5.
Harrison broke into the top 100 for the first time last summer to become 1 of only 2 teenagers in the top 100, after advancing to the semi-finals of both the Atlanta and Los Angeles ATP events. He was also in the main draw at all 4 grand slam events last year. Sandgren turned pro after 2 years at the University of Tennessee, where he was an all-American, after he reached the semi-finals of the NCAA singles championships in 2011.
Kudla VS Klahn
Number 7 seed Denis Kudla was defeated by Bradley Klahn (USA), 6-4, 7-6(3).
Klahn won the NCAA singles title in 2010 while in his sophomore year at Stanford. That same year he appeared in Binghamton as a wild card, advancing to the quarter-finals. He recently launched his professional career after having graduated from Stanford.
Nineteen-year old Denis Kudla resides in Arlington, VA. Denis won the Orange Bowl 16’s title in 2009, and in 2010 was a US Open Juniors finalist, where he lost to fellow American Jack Sock. This year he reached the second round at the San Jose CA ATP event, where he lost to Andy Roddick 7-6(5), 6-7(5), 4-6. In March he advanced to the second round of the ATP World Masters event at Indian Wells where he was defeated by Roger Federer. In January of this year, Denis advanced through the qualifying rounds into the main draw at the Australian Open. Since turning pro, Denis has improved his ATP ranking to the current level of 177.
Greg Jones (AUS) defeated Gleb Sakharov (FRA) 7-6(3), 6-4. This is Jones’ third appearance her, having reached the quarter-finals last year. He was a finalist in the Caloundra, Australia Challenger event this year.
Michael Yani (USA) defeated Austin Krajicek (USA) 6-3, 7-6(3). Yani, 31, is a former Duke Blue Devil, where he compiled an overall record of 81-27 in 4 years there. Krajicek was the NCAA doubles champion in 2011 at Texas A&M, and served as a hitting partner for the US Davis Cup team earlier this year.
The feature matches tomorrow include the #1 seed Dudi Sela (ISR) taking on Rhyne Williams (USA), scheduled to start not before 3:00 PM. Sela is the top seed at the LG&T this year with an ATP ranking of 108. Williams has reached the quarter-finals of 2 Challenger events this year. H is a former all-American at the University of Tennessee, where in 2011 he was a NCAA singles finalist.
Also in action tomorrow will be wild card and #5 seen Robby Ginepri taking on New Zealand qualifier Michael Venus. Ginepri has been ranked as high as 15 in the world (2006) and in 2005 reached the semi-finals of the US Open, where he lost to Andre Agassi in 5 sets. He was sidelined in 2010 with a broken elbow and returned to action in the middle of 2011.
In 2009 Venus was the SEC Player of the Year for LSU, as well as an All-American in both singles and doubles.
Michael McClune (USA) and Marco Chiudinelli (SUI) the number 2 seed, are locked in a tie with the match suspended by darkness, 7-6, 3-6, 2-2, to be completed tomorrow.
In first round doubles action, the local duo of Binghamton Tennis Center head pro Billy Mendler and Wake Forest freshman Alex Tsai fell to Rubin Gonzales (PHI) and Michael Venus (NZL) 6-1, 6-4.