It has been a while since my last post, slacking I know. Yesterday, I made my annual trip to the ATP 250 event in Winston-Salem. If you recall, it is at the same facility as the
Winston-Salem futures held earlier this summer. But unlike the lower tournament, this event is much better organized, has bigger crowd and higher profile players. World No.11 and WC recipient, Gilles Simon of France is the top seed and 18 year old Croatian Borna Coric rounds out the Top 8 with an ATP ranking of 38. The other three wildcards went to former World No.2 Tommy Haas of Germany, 2nd seed Kevin Anderson (RSA), and 18 year old American Jared Donaldson. For full
draw.
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| Map of the tournament |
Qualifying Saturday is the best day of the tournament in my opinion. Both Qualifying Round 1 and 2 are played on the same day so spectators get their money's worth. However, because there are so many matches going on at the same time, five to be exact, it is tough to watch everything. So I made a list of what I wanted to see beforehand.
The first match that I saw upon arrival was between
Pierre-Hugues Herbert of France and 2012 Junior Roland Garros Champion
Kimmer Coppejans (BEL) on Center Court. I saw only the last three games, the match went quicker than I calculated with the Frenchman winning 6-3 6-2.
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| Kimmer Coppejans |
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| Kimmer Coppejans |
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| Pierre-Hugues Herbert |
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| Handshake |
After leaving Stadium Court, I spotted
Borna Coric on Practice Court 1.
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| Borna Coric |
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| Borna Coric |
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| Borna Coric & Co. |
On my way to the Grandstand, saw
Jared Donaldson and his camp on Practice Court 4. His coach, former World No.21, Taylor Dent is also here.
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| Jared Donaldson |
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| Overlooking Practice Courts 4, 5, and 6 from Stadium Court's balcony/east entrance |
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| His other coach (Alejandro Kon) and dad (Courtney) perhaps? |
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| Taylor Dent hiding in the shade |
On the Grandstand, former UVA star,
Jarmere Jenkins took on
Lucas Pouille (FRA). I'm not a great photographer, but I like to tell myself, "just take a lot, eventually a few will come out decent". Some of my best pictures are of Jenkins. He is athletic, very quick on his feet. JJ won the first set 6-4 before I left. Later, I found out Pouille won in three sets.
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| Jarmere Jenkins |
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| Jarmere Jenkins serving |
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| Jarmere Jenkins |
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| Jarmere Jenkins |
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| Lucas Pouille |
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| Lucas Pouille |
Pardon my spelling mistake above, should be
deuces. Close up view of Americans
Bjorn Fratangelo and
Ryan Harrison watching from above.
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| Bjorn Fratangelo & Ryan Harrison |
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| Bjorn Fratangelo & Ryan Harrison |
The next match on my agenda was between 19 year old
Deiton Baughman (USA) and Wake Forest's red shirted Freshman,
Christian Seraphim (GER). Both players are tall and have big serve. Deiton, known by his nickname "Slim", is 6'5" and Christian is 6'8". Though the German's short short and slim frame gave the impression that he is taller than that. The American teenager went on to win in straight sets.
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| Deiton Baughman |
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| Deiton Baughman |
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| Deiton Baughman |
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| Christian Seraphim |
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| Christian Seraphim during changeover |
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| The newly permanent seating facility on Court 4 makes this court my personal favorite. |
Seems like every year, I see a shirtless
Nicholas Mahut on the practice court.
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| Nicolas Mahut |
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| Nicolas Mahut |
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| Nicolas Mahut |
This concludes Part I of the Saturday coverage. The sequel features more pictures of Ryan Harrison and Bjorn Fratangelo, as well as Clay Thompson, Sanam Singh, Mischa Zverev, Sam Querrey, Tommy Haas, Thanasi Kokkinakis, Marcos Baghdatis, Frances Tiafoe, Martin Klizan and more. So stay tuned.
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