Darian King upsets fifth ranked Marchenko; Williams outlasts Ginepri in Tuesday finale
After a long wait, top seed Bradley Klahn is through to the second round of the singles main draw. Klahn, whose match was originally slated for Monday evening, finished up the decisive third set on Tuesday afternoon by defeating doubles teammate Jordan Thompson by a final tally of 5-7, 6-1, 6-4.
Klahn, the singles runner-up finisher last year in Binghamton, fought through windy conditions and a very difficult opponent in Australian Jordan Thompson. Each player won their first three service points of the third set before Klahn finally broke Thompson to create some separation. Klahn went on to capture both of his service points, eventually winning 6-4. The top ranked player in the field will square off with qualifier and fellow countrymen Sekou Bangoura in the second round.
In the lone upset, Darian King was able to knock of fifth seeded Illya Marchenko, the 180th player in the world, in straight sets, 7-6 (2), 6-1, early Tuesday afternoon. King, a 22-year old from Barbados, grinded out a tiebreak victory in the first set and glided past Marchenko 6-1 in a second set that included a perfect 5-of-5 on break points saved for the 445th ranked singles player in the world.
In what was arguably the match of the tournament thus far, sixth seed Rhyne Williams won a lengthy battle over Robby Ginepri by a count of 1-6, 6-4, 7-6 (5). The final set, which lasted nearly an hour, went back-and-forth until it was eventually won by Williams who took the match with his 14th ace of the evening. In total, the match lasted over 136 minutes and featured a combined tally of 192 points as the Binghamton crowd was treated to a thrilling three set match.
Second-seeded Sergiy Stakhovsky showed why he is the 88th ranked player in the world with a quick 6-1, 6-4 victory over Evan King (USA). Stakhovsky showed brilliance at the net and won 36-of-46 (78 %) of service points on the day. The Ukrainian who was once ranked as high as 31, will square off with American Daniel Nguyen who ousted Shane Ryan yesterday. Denis Kudla (USA), the third seed, also advanced on Tuesday by beating fellow American Mitchell Krueger, 7-6 (3), 6-3. Kudla accumulated 11 aces compared to just three from Krueger and took advantage on Krueger’s second serve by winning 13-of-26 (50 %) points throughout the match.
In the day’s first match, Great Britain’s Daniel Cox defeated Jarmere Jenkins (USA) in straight sets, 6-3, 6-2. After winning the opening set, Cox quickly fell behind 2-0 in the second but bounced back nicely by winning the last six games to advance. Cox will square off with 17-year old Jared Donaldson (USA) on Wednesday at 5:30 on center court. Erik Crepaldi (ITA) also moved on in straight sets on Tuesday, moving past Uzbekistan’s Sarvar Ikramov, 6-3, 7-5. Ikramov was almost on the verge of forcing a third set, leading 5-3 in the second, but could not finish Crepaldi off. Strong on his serve all afternoon, Crepaldi blasted nine aces in total during the first round match that took just over an hour-and-a-half.
One of the final singles matches of the day pitted two Americans against one another as seventh seeded Austin Krajicek came out on top with a 7-5, 6-4 triumph over Columbia University All-American Winston Lin. Krajicek, who comes in ranked at a career-high of 188, will take on Thanasi Kokkinakis in the second round on Thursday.
Both Wayne Odesnik and Takanyi Garangana put together impressive comebacks, finishing off their opponents after each player dropped the first set. Odesnik, who made it to the final 32 in Newport, RI last week, bested Dennis Novikov, 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 , while Garanganga upended reigning 2014 NCAA singles Champion Marcos Giron, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3.
In doubles, the team of Klahn and Thompson bested the USA team of Ryan Shane and Clay Thompson in straight sets, while the top seeded squad of Sekou Bangoura and Evan King were beaten by the Great Britain team of Daniel Cox and Daniel Smethurst 6-1, 3-6, 10-3. Both teams will move to quarterfinals round action which will begin on Thursday.