American Men Come Up Big on Day One
(September 4, 2018) CHICAGO – American men came up with some big come-from behind wins on the first day of the Chicago Oracle Challenger on Tuesday, going 5-1 on the day with the only loss, an unavoidable one.
Mitchell Krueger started things off with a 3-6 6-3 6-2 upset over No. 7 seed Elias Ymer of Sweden. Court 1 proved to be the site of grave disappointment for both Ymers, with younger brother Mikael having to retire in his first set in qualifying yesterday. Krueger used a big serve to advance, serving at 64% for the match and not facing a break point in the last two sets.
Speaking of big serves, Reilly Opelka hit 14 aces en route to winning all 23 of his first serve points in a 6-3, 6-2 win over former USC player Roberto Quiroz of Colombia. Opelka guaranteed an American quarterfinalist, as he’ll take on the winner of Michael Mmoh and Christopher Eubanks.
Another upset winner was Bjorn Fratangelo, who picked up his first main draw win since April, beating Serbian No. 4 seed Viktor Troicki 2-6, 6-2, 6-0. Fratangelo will face the winner of Wednesday’s match between Ernesto Escobedo and Sekou Bangoura.
The one American man unable to come up with the win was hometown hero Evan King, who fell 6-4 3-6 6-3 to compatriot and No. 8 seed Noah Rubin.
Other winners: wildcard J.C. Aragone (USA) over Daniel Galan (COL) 7-6(5), 6-3 and, in the sole match featuring two non-Americans, former University of Tennessee all-American J.P. Smith (AUS) came back to beat former University of South Florida star Roberto Cid Subervi (DOM) 2-6, 6-1, 6-4. Among the doubles winners was the team of Sekou Bangoura (USA) and Joris De Loore (BEL), who as a last-minute alternate defeated Victor Estrella Burgos (DOM) and Elias Ymer.
American wins in this tournament are valuable, as the male and female player who accumulate the most points over the Oracle Challenger Series (beginning with this week) will get wild cards into the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells in March 2019. The next Oracle Challenger event will be in Houston in November.
In the WTA $125K, Americans went 3-3 on Tuesday. Sixth seed Sachia Vickery beat Ons Jabeur (TUN) 6-4 4-6 6-4 in a topsy-turvy match that featured 11 breaks of serve.
“I played against a really tricky opponent,” said Vickery after the match. “She mixes it up a lot and she’s a bit frustrating to play so I was happy that I could just hang in there and squeeze it out in the third set.”
Part one of my post-match interview for @TennisNewsTPN with @SachiaVick who bear Ons Jabeur 6-4 4-6 6-4 to advance to the Chicago @OracleChallngrs 2nd round pic.twitter.com/wppwdMqxWH
— J?NATHAN (@jokelley_tennis) September 4, 2018
And part two of my interview for @TennisNewsTPN with @SachiaVick after her @OracleChallngrs first round win pic.twitter.com/0n8HMo8Tks
— J?NATHAN (@jokelley_tennis) September 4, 2018
This was the first time Vickery had faced Jabeur. “We’re great friends, actually, but I’ve never played against her. She’s a great girl, probably the nicest on tour – everybody loves Ons!”
Vickery’s next opponent will be American Wildcard Allie Kiick, who picked up her second Top 100 win of the year 6-7(3) 6-2 6-2 over Czech Republic’s Krystina Pliskova (whose twin sister Karolina fell to Serena Williams later in the day at the US Open). Kiick saved all six break points she faced in the match, all in the final set, while breaking the tall lefty twice in each of the last two sets.
Madison Brengle didn’t face a break point and converted 4 of 10 of her own break points to beat fellow American Lauren Davis 6-0 6-0. Davis had four game points in the second set, but never was able to get on the board. Brengle gets German fourth seed Tatjana Maria, a 7-5 6-3 winner over American qualifier Irina Falconi.
Other WTA winners:
Zarina Diyas [3] d. Kateryna Kozlova 3-6 6-2 6-1
Mona Barthel d. Zhu Lin 5-7 6-2 6-4
Francoise Abanda (Q) d. Robin Anderson (Q) 6-3 6-1
Additionally, the top two teams in doubles (Christian/Santamaria and Jurak/Knoll, respectively) won their first round matches.
In the final match of the day, Johanna Larsson (SWE) saved three match points to beat Beatriz Haddad Maia 6-4 1-6 7-6(3), winning the final seven points of the final set tiebreak.
Jonathan Kelley is in Chicago covering the Oracle Challenger Series tournament for Tennis Panorama News.
