The Inaugural Cary Challenger in NC!

Another super late post.  Wanted to get this out of the way before my hiatus!

I didn't watch tennis for 2 whole days...it felt great. Need to take more breaks. After Fairfield final, going to disappear until USTAAOWCP.

— Lang (@LangTennis) October 18, 2015

Finally, there was a challenger event close to me!  The $50K tournament held the week after the US Open in Cary (North Carolina), along with the later debutantes ($50K Columbus and $50K Las Vegas), was not part of the USTA Pro Circuit; thus, no commentating provided by the popular Mike Cation.  Per the tournament director (I think), they were approached by the USTA (United States Tennis Association) late in May.  With only a few months of preparation, I was impressed by the organization.  Besides the main attraction, there were several sideshows such as the fast serve contests, silent auctions (raised $1200 for charity), and food tents.  The whole community seemed to be involved.  Numerous kids volunteered to be ball carriers (they rotated ball kids every changeover during the weekend, partly to protect them from the scorching heat).

Center Court

ATP Winston-Salem Open: Saturday Part II

This is Part II of the Winston-Salem Open Saturday coverage.  ICYMI Part I.

Saw the beginning of Mischa Zverev and Sanam Singh match but didn't stay long because Court 5 had no place to sit (standing room only).  Per the qualifying draw, Mischa retired trailing 6-4 3-1.

Sanam Singh and Mischa Zverev getting ready for their match

Sanam Singh

ATP Winston-Salem Open Qualies - Saturday Part I

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.

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.

March Rankings: Young, Harrison, Fratangelo, Chirico Moving Up

Previous Rankings: February. 

ATP - Top 15 Americans

Notable Changes

•  Sam Querrey reclaims the No. 2 spot by reaching the semifinals of ATP Memphis.
• Despite dropping a spot, Stevie Johnson continues his strong 2015 campaign with back to back quarterfinal showings at Memphis and Delray Beach Open.
• Donald Young continues his rise with a semifinal at Memphis and second career ATP final at Delray Beach Open (l. Karlovic).
• Also in Memphis, Austin Krajicek reached first career ATP quarterfinal losing to top seed, Kei Nishikori, in 3 sets.
• Ryan Harrison jumps 56 spots since the last monthly ranking.  The 22 year old qualified and made the semifinals of ATP Acapulco, a 500 level tournament.  Along the way, he defeated Young, Grigor Dimitrov (1st Top 10 win in 23 tries), and Ivo Karlovic before falling to World No. 9 David Ferrer who went on to capture the title.   Harrison attributes his resurgence to the rehiring of coach Grant Doyle and the mentorship of Andy Roddick.
• Tim Smyczek reenters the Top 100 by lifting the title at the $100K Challenger of Dallas taking down fellow American Rajeev Ram.
• Bjorn Fratangelo makes his debut on the list, coming in at No. 12, after winning maiden challenger title in Launceston, Australia. The 2011 Roland Garros Boys champion defeated talented 18 year old Hyeon Chung of Korea in 3 sets.
• Jared Donaldson won his first ATP main draw over fellow wildcard, Stefan Kozlov, in Memphis. ICYMI his Q&A for us, here is the link
• The Bryan brothers won their first doubles title of the year, 104th overall, in Delray Beach.
  

February Rankings: Serena Claimed 19th Slam Title, New Career High For Keys and Donaldson

 ATP - Top 15 Americans

Notable Changes

•  Steve Johnson takes over the No. 2 spot from Sam Querrey.
• Jared Donaldson makes his debut on the Top 15 List at No. 15 with the aid of his maiden challenger title at the $50K Maui over fellow first-time American finalist Nicolas Meister (former UCLA Bruin).
• Ryan Harrison is back on the list at No. 11 with the Happy Valley Challenger title run.
• Alex Kuznetsov and Jarmere Jenkins are bumped off the list despite minimal changes from the January ATP rankings.

2015 AO Qualifying in Pictures

Fourteen American men and four American women participated in the 2015 Australian Open qualifications, but only three successfully made it to the main draw.  Thirty-six year old Michael Russell, who declared 2015 as his last professional season,  27 year old Tim Smyczek, and the former Georgian representative, Anna Tatishvili, won three matches for a chance to compete with the best.  Nine men and three women claimed 1st round victories, six advanced to the final qualifying round including Jarmere Jenkins, Alex Kuznetsov, Chase Buchanan, and Alexa Glatch.  In the main draw, Smyczek draws wildcard and 2012 Junior AO winner, Luke Saville of Australia.  Russell gets No. 20 David Goffin (BEL) and Tatishvili opens her campaign against 44 year old Japanese, Kimiko Date-Krumm.  USA has a total of 24 players (7 men and 17 women) in the singles main events, spearhead by John Isner and World No. 1 Serena Williams.

Decent Start to the 2015 American Campaign

Not a bad start to the new season from the American bunch highlighted by Venus Williams' victory in Auckland and the Hopman Final.  The ATP performance may not be as good as the WTA's, but there were some nice results at the lower tour events including a surprising start for Ryan Harrison and strong showings by the teenagers on the futures tour.

In the first week of the 2015 season, Venus Williams claimed her 46th title at the ASB Classic in Auckland.  The 34 year old upended fellow former World No.1, Caroline Wozniacki, 2-6 6-3 6-3.  With the victory, Williams is back up at No.18 on the WTA tour ranking.  Also in New Zealand, 21 year old Lauren Davis reached her first career semifinal coming back from 1st set deficient each time.  She defeated fellow Americans, Shelby Rogers and Sloane Stephens, as well as Pole Urszula Radwanska before falling to Williams.  CoCo Vandeweghe also made the quarterfinals.