“We had absolute fireworks in the doubles today with the Tiafoe and King duo putting on quite the show against Polansky and Bester, finalists in last week’s Columbus Challenger,” said tournament director Brendan Curry. Tiafoe and King won the first set 76(2), and then at set point down in second-set tiebreaker, Tiafoe hit a fast return of serve that was at least 122 mph and left his opponents staring. Bester and Polansky won the second set tiebreaker 20-18, and then Tiafoe and King overcame an early 4-1 deficit in the super-breaker to win 10 points to eight.
Thursday starts with wild card Brian Baker facing no 5 seed Dennis Novikov and wild card and local favorite Mackenzie McDonald taking on Salvatore Caruso of Italy. “Look for these two to put on a show of balance and poise,” said Curry.
Men’s Singles – Second Round
[2] Bjorn Fratangelo (USA) d Joris De Loore (BEL) 62 75
[3] Tim Smyczek (USA) d Sam Groth (AUS) 75 76(11)
[Q] Michael Mmoh (USA) d [6] Stefan Kozlov (USA) 75 64
Mitchell Krueger (USA) d [8] Quentin Halys (FRA) 64 64
Men’s Doubles – First Round
[1] Marcelo Arevalo (ESA)/Julio Peralta (CHI) vs. [WC] Tommy Paul (USA)/Denis Shapovalov (CAN) 62 62
Quentin Halys (FRA)/Dennis Novikov (USA) d Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela (MEX)/[2] Max Schnur (USA) 46 63 10-5
Darian King (BAR)/Frances Tiafoe (USA) d Philip Bester (CAN)/[4] Peter Polansky (CAN) 76(2) 67(18) 10-8
[Q] Blaz Rola (SLO)/Grega Zemlja (SLO) d Frederik Nielsen (DEN)/Noah Rubin (USA) 76(10) 57 10-7
Steven De Waard (AUS)/Alessandro Giannessi (ITA) d Guilherme Clezar (BRA)/Brydan Klein (GBR) 63 64
[WC] Mackenzie McDonald (USA)/Ben McLachlan (NZL) d Yuki Bhambri (IND)/[PR] John Paul Fruttero (USA) 63 46 10-3
ORDER OF PLAY – THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2016
Center Court start 11 a.m.
[WC] Brian Baker (USA) vs. [5] Dennis Novikov (USA)
[4] Frances Tiafoe (USA) vs. John-Patrick Smith (AUS)
Not Before 3 p.m.
[1] Benjamin Becker (GER) vs. Darian King (BAR)
Not Before 4:30 p.m.
[3] Matt Reid (AUS)/John-Patrick Smith (AUS) vs. Steven De Waard (AUS)/Alessandro Giannessi (ITA)
Court 1 start 11 a.m.
[WC] Mackenzie McDonald (USA) vs [Q] Salvatore Caruso (ITA)
[1] Marcelo Arevalo (ESA)/Juan Peralta (CHI) vs [Q] Baz Rola (SLO)/Grega Zemlja (SLO)
[WC] Mackenzie McDonald (USA)/B McLachlan (NZL) vs Quentin Halys (FRA)/Dennis Novikov (USA)
Click graphic below to view fullscreen…
