Was able to get away from a possible swine flu case at my house and a confirmed one at work to catch a little tennis at the Polo Tennis and Fitness Club today here in Austin.
This new event, a 15k, struggle through the weekend with all of the rain we have been having, but they finally finished the qualies Tuesday. A few first rounders were played too.
TUESDAY – main draw
Victor Estrella (1), Dominican Republic, def. Tyler Hochwalt, United States, 6-2 7-5
Dimitar Kutrovsky, Bulgaria, def. Austin Krajicek, United States, 1-6 6-2 6-0
Jack Sock, United States, def. Matej Bocko (4), Slovakia, 6-4 6-3
Luis Diaz-Barriga, Mexico, def. Gonzalo Escobar, Ecuador, 1-6 6-3 6-2
Eric Nunez (3), United States, def. Tennys Sandgren, United States, 6-2 6-3
Michael McClune (2), United States, def. Michael Rubin, United States, 6-1 6-1
Most notable of these are Jack Sock’s win over Bocko and Kutrovsky beating Krajicek love in the third. Diaz-Barriga over Escobar was an all-Big XII affair.
I also heard that Tennys sprained his ankle or something like that and withdrew from doubles. That allowed Jack Sock and Kutrovsky to get into the doubles as the first alternates.
WEDNESDAY’S RESULTS – I’ll just run down the order of play in singles and what I saw.
Ashwin Kumar v. Michael Venus – This match was tight in the first set. Kumar was serving at 5-6 40-0 and lost the game after a little disagreement with the chair. Personally I thought the chair missed the call at 40-30, but oh well. Ashwin was coming to net on everything and really didn’t want to stay back with Venus. Interestingly enough, all I could think about during the match was whether these guys worked out together at Newks when they were there. Ashwin told me later Venus didn’t come until the year after he left. The second set had the chair call a let claiming a ball had gotten wet or something mid-point. Venus went ballistic and called for the supervisor. He ended up winning the game and during the changeover the supervisor arrived. Venus and Kumar were sitting on the bench waiting, discussing their dislike for the chair. The chair was actually told he had made an incorrect ruling and Venus asked for an apology, which the chair didn’t really give. Ashwin played well and came back to win 57 63 63.
Conor Pollock v. Antonio Ruiz-Rosales
Ruiz-Rosales seemed disinterested from the get-go and Conor’s early dominance added to that. He picked up his effort level in the second but this was a routine 62 64 win for Pollock. No big drama.
Dennis Zivkovic v. Till Heilshorn
This was full of drama. Zivkovic got drilled in the first set 61, then took the obligatory 10 minute bathroom break (it just seemed like that). While up a break, 4-3 in the second, he breaks his third set of strings of the match. It becomes apparent he only has one racquet left and no string to re-string and decides to borrow one from his doubles partner Victor Estrella. He plays the rest of the match with a Babolat (he uses Prince) and wins 16 64 76. Heilshorn was serving for the match at 54 40-15 in the third and double-faulted three straight points. That could leave a mark. It was painful to watch.
Brett Joelson v. Juan-Manuel Elizondo
Not a whole lot to report here but some racquet throwing from Elizondo. Joelson won 64 76 (7), but it seemed routine.
Raphael Shiikuma Pfister v. Mick Monroe
Pfister is at Tech now. Not a bunch to report on this, as Monroe won 62 61.
Daniel Garza v. Erling Tveit
Garza is so nonchalant. He was cruising in the first set and gave it away, only to come back and win the match, 67 63 63. I say nonchalant, but he was cussing a blue streak in Spanish. I have no idea why he was never coded. You are telling me there was a single official knew what he was saying? Let’s remember the tournament was in South Texas. Come on.
Jonathan Eysseric v. Christoph Muller
Muller of Rice gave a run against the former Junior World #1, losing 63 64. The match was extremely close with one game lasting over 20 minutes alone. This was a slugfest.
Nima Roshan v. Ilie Babinciuc
Babinciuc played at Tech and was in the match with Roshan. No big deal as Roshan won 64 61. The biggest splash from this one may have been Roshan having words with the tournament supervisor twice in the lounge for trying to get into the officials area to eat and rest.
Ruben Gonzales v. Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela
Mickey, as he is affectionately known around here, looked completely outclassed at the beginning of this one. He was down 3-0 in a hurry before fighting back. He fought his way to the second set and a split. Gonzales appeared to lose his nerve in the third and lost it at love, playing sloppy and rushing everything. MARV wins, 36 62 60, winning 15 of the last 20 games. When he walked off the court, I said out loud, “where was that last year”. An ex-teammate of his (there were several there) responded “where was that the last four years”.
Jeff Dadamo v. Sinisa Markovic
The new Aggie versus the ex-Red Raider. This may have been one of the biggest slugfests of the day and nobody was going to out-slug Dadamo today. He was impressive. I honestly think he might play #1 for A&M. He is certainly playing better that Krajicek for the time being. Coach Denton has got to be excited, although I did hear him say Dadamo is going to think he is on the track team with the fitness he will go through this fall. Just a real impressive effort. We’ll see how he does.
