The excitement is building as the Tiburon Challenger moves into the quarterfinals.
Some of the top seeds are really making their mark on the tournament. First- seed Tommy Paul (USA) moves to the next level after defeating Hugo Gaston (FRA), while number-four seed, Emilio Gomez (ECU) defeated Ernesto Escobedo (USA) to stay in the running.
Other top seeds didn’t fair as well on Thursday. A racquet falls from the heavens landing on the bar tent … 20 minutes later it’s mangled into the surface of Court 1. Tough day for the racquet, worse for Mikael Torpegaard as he books his flight back to Denmark after losing a second-set tiebreaker to Gonzalo Escobar.
Props to Gonzalo, a very smart player with excellent problem-solving skills. He’ll face Paul next in the quarterfinals.
Big-hitting Thanasi Kokkinakis did not disappoint with a convincing straight-set victory over Frenchman Enzo Couacaud 7-5 6-1. Thanasi will take on Maxime Cressy in the first quarterfinal match tomorrow morning at 11 am.
Sekou Bangoura weathered the blustery conditions against the ‘King of Barbados’ Darian King, and after losing the first set rallied, eliminated unforced errors and won the next two sets 6-4 and 6-0!
Sekou, looking solid, won’t complain as he takes up his position in tomorrow’s lineup facing Gomez for a spot in Saturday’s Semis.
In the doubles: John Paul Fruttero and Denis Kudla. How often do you get to watch a touring professional play with one yellow shoe and one white? You have to see it to believe it, and if you think that’s off the wall, let me know what you think after you see his haircut! JP is awesome, a great guy and loves the game, it’s tough not to back this guy. Together, they took down the tournament wildcard twins Yates and Hunter Johnson in a third set tiebreak. An exciting match and I cant wait to see what JP has in store for us tomorrow.
It was windy today! Really fun for the spectators as players are thrown out of their comfort zones and forced to show exactly what they can come up with physically and mentally.
We’re down to the quarter-finals tomorrow, matches start at 11 am with the Aussie Kokkinakis kicking off proceedings on Centre Court against Maxime Cressy. It will be fun to watch!
I look forward to seeing you all there.
Full Results | September 26, 2019
Men’s Singles – Third Round
[1] T. Paul (USA) d H. Gaston (FRA) 7-6(8) 6-1
[14] T. Kwiatkowski (USA) d [3] M. Giron (USA) 4-6 7-6(3) 6-4
[4] E. Gomez (ECU) d [15] E. Escobedo (USA) 7-6(4) 2-6 6-2
G. Escobar (ECU) d [5] M. Torpegaard (DEN) 6-4 7-6(9)
S. Bangoura (USA) d [7] D. King (BAR) 1-6 6-4 6-0
[8] T. Kokkinakis (AUS) d [9] E. Couacaud (FRA) 7-5 6-1
[WC] B. Nakashima (USA) d [10] C. Eubanks (USA) 7-6(5) 7-5
[16] M. Cressy (USA) d R. Quiroz (ECU) 5-7 6-2 6-3
Men’s Doubles – Quarterfinals
[2] A. Lawson (USA) / J. Withrow (USA) d C. Eubanks (USA) / M. Krueger (USA) 6-4 7-6(5)
[PR] N. Pasha (USA) / M. Schnur (USA) d J. Cerretani (USA) / M. Cressy (USA) 6-3 6-4
Men’s Doubles – First Round
[1] M. Arevalo (ESA) / H. Reese (USA) d [WC] S. Bangoura (USA) / E. King (USA) 6-3 6-4
J. Fruttero (USA) / D. Kudla (USA) d [WC] H. Johnson (USA) / Y. Johnson (USA) 3-6 6-4 10-7
