Britton Upsets Tomic in First Round Action Monday
©Colette Lewis 2008--
Flushing Meadows, NY--
Qualifier Devin Britton spotted Australian Open Junior champion Bernard Tomic a set Monday afternoon, but his serve and volley game ultimately proved too confounding for the Australian, who fell 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 on another cloudless day at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.
In the opening set, Britton dropped his serve for the only time in the match, but there was no hint that he was going to abandon his net-rushing game. Tomic's forehand was flying all over the court, and Britton gave him no breathing room, making few unforced errors when there were baseline exchanges and dominating with his volleying at the net.
"I think my game style matched up perfectly with him," Britton said. "He likes to stay back and rally, keep a lot of balls in play, and I kind of took that away from him, really put some pressure on him, and he doesn't like that at all. Coming in to this match, I knew I had a pretty good shot at it, the way he plays and the way I play."
Britton broke to begin the third set and was holding his serve easily, but the outcome was probably decided when Britton got the second break to make it 5-2. Although Britton didn't approach the net regularly when Tomic was serving, his willingness to finish a point there had Tomic feeling the pressure. Tomic had two game points at 2-4, but couldn't convert and Britton could serve out the match. At 5-2, 30-30, Tomic hit yet another forehand into the net, and at match point, Britton completed the upset with an ace.
"I had to serve well, which I did, so I'm pretty happy with that," said the 17-year-old from Mississippi.
Britton's opponent in the second round will be fellow American qualifier Matt Kandath, who was down 3-0 to Italy's Giacomo Miccini in the first set, but came back for a 7-5, 6-4 victory. Kandath defeated Britton in the first round of the ITF Grade 1 in Montreal last week, 7-6, 6-1.
The news for the other U.S. boys was mixed. Wild cards Bob van Overbeek couldn't hold a 4-0 lead in the second set and lost to Christopher Rungkat of Indonesia 6-2, 7-5 and Raymond Sarmiento fell to qualifier Dominic Schulz of Germany 7-6(3), 7-6(3). Harry Fowler, who had qualified by winning a third set tiebreaker, couldn't duplicate the feat against Italian Alessandro Giannessi, losing 6-4, 6-7(5), 7-6(3) Down a break in the third set, Fowler broke his obviously fatigued opponent serving for the match at 5-4, and had the momentum, but unforced errors in the tiebreaker cost him the chance to advance. Lucky loser Bo Seal dropped a 6-2, 7-5 decision to qualifier Hiroyasu Ehara of Japan.
The two seeded U.S. boys did record wins, with No. 9 seed Ryan Harrison dismissing Adrien Puget of France 6-3, 6-2 and No. 13 seed Bradley Klahn downing Spain's Pablo Carreno-Busta 6-4, 6-3.
In girls first round action, qualifiers Lauren McHale and Beatrice Capra were eliminated, McHale by fellow qualifier Heather Watson of Great Britain 6-3, 6-4 and Capra by Sweden's Sandra Roma 6-3, 6-1.
Second seed Melanie Oudin cruised past Timea Babos of Hungary 6-2, 6-2 and wild card Coco Vandeweghe took out No. 13 seed Elena Chernyakova of Russia 7-5, 6-1. Chernyakova served for the first set at 5-4, but after that, it was all Vandeweghe, who advances to play Kristie Ahn in the second round. U.S. girls Nicole Gibbs, Gail Brodsky and Mallory Burdette have yet to play their first round matches, which are scheduled for Tuesday. Evan King is the only U.S. boy playing a first round match on Tuesday.
There was no upset in the girls competition matching Sunday's loss of top seed Arantxa Rus, but No. 6 seed Ana Bogdan of Romania was beaten by qualifier Quirine Lemoine of the Netherlands 7-6(4), 2-6, 6-4.
Eight first round doubles matches were also played in each division on Monday. Oudin and Asia Muhammad put out the No. 4 seeded team of Cindy Chala of France and Johanna Konta of Australia 6-2, 6-2. Five U.S. boys doubles teams in competition Monday were defeated, although Ty Trombetta, playing with Jose Hernandez of the Dominican Republic, did score a victory.
For complete draws, see usopen.org. For additional coverage of the juniors, see collegeandjuniortennis.com.
10 comments:
As a fan of Argentina, I'm happy that DEL POTRO is doing all the good things at the moment.
I hope he keeps this momentum going into the quarter-finals but we all know it will a big game for him against Andy MURRAY.
I wish him all the best.
Anyway what do you think about DEL POTRO chances against the Scotsman?
http://mundoalbiceleste.blogspot.com/2008/09/del-potro-advance-to-last-eight.html
John,
I am very, very high on Del Potro - I have seen him play about 10 times on the Pro Circuit.
I think he is the protype player of the future. Big 6'5" strong, great, great athlete, great mobility, smart and power.
He can beat you in many different ways-- I also think Muarry is terrific and it should be a very solid match.
Both are playing well and I surley believe both will be in the top 10 maybe top 5 within a very short time.
The young American players will have their hands full with both players along with Nole, Tsonga (even with the injury, obviously Nadel and Monfrils to round out the under age 22 player.
My prediction Del Potro in 5 (close).
I saw Devin's match against Tomic and I was happy to see him win but think he needs to keep it real. Devin played okay but I've seen enough of him over the years to know that it wasn't his game style that put pressure on Tomic, it was the truth that Tomic's forehand was totally out to lunch. Says a lot to me about Tomic that he took it to three even though he missed so many shots Devin should have put him away easily in straight.
What happened to Jarmere Jenkins? I know he retired but why? Is he okay now?
Colette
Harry Fowler, who had qualified by winning a third set tiebreaker, couldn't duplicate the feat against Italian Alessandro Giannessi, losing 6-1, 6-7(5), 7-6(3)
FYI Fowler's first set was 6-4
Thanks, I'll fix it. I appreciate the correction.
To ChaseBuchananFan re Jenkins:
I understand from talking to his father that he is recovered physically, though still terribly frustrated. He cramped while up a set and a break to Krajinovic (a heck of a player who might now win it all). Started in his thigh and moved up from there.
His history is perplexing. He had a full body cramp in last year's Kalamazoo round of 16 (while up a set). He had a full body cramp in the semi's of last year's Orange Bowl while up 5-2 in the third to the eventual champion Barankis. And he also cramped in this year's Kalamzoo back draw final. Now the cramp at the Open.
Unfortunately, the reason for his cramping is not the normal lack of fitness or hydration. He is among the fittest and hardest working juniors we have.
Given his potential, I don't understand why the USTA has not had him thoroughly checked by a nutritionist/Sports medicine doctor to figure out why he is cramping and address it. I know for a fact that they have not. Can anyone else share any insight?
To ChaseBuchananFan
...Not at all surprised Britton beat Tomic, a loopy baseliner. Britton's big serve for a jr and volley game is suited to the fast courts at the open. I also saw part of the match and Tomic's forehand was out of control because of the pressure Britton put on him at the baseline. Looked at Britton's record and saw he upset Filip Karkarvic at Roehampton. This shows that all these juniors can play and again too soon to tell who will really pop through. Could see Britton doing some real damange in the next rounds if his serve is on.
Can anyone tell me why all of this hype is on ryan harrison? he beat one guy in an atp match who is now well outside the top 100 and we treat him like the next pete sampras. I think donald young was more justified simply because he dominated the juniors, winning two slams, two k-zoo's, and a bunch of other big international tournaments. ryan got to the semis of a very weak australian open which is still a great accomplishment, but it isnt out of the world. he hasnt even got to the semis of a future or even won a match in a challenger. Someone like andy roddick won aussie open and the us open when he was 17,18 respectively. he also dominated the futures and barely lost on the challengers and got to the 4th round or quarters if im not mistaken when he was 19. im not trying to bash ryan, im just wondering why he is the 'future' of american tennis based on his results.
American man,
Ryan is 16, a whole year younger than Roddick was when he made noise on the junior scene. There's a huge difference between 16, and 17 or 18. Besides, there is only a small correlation between junior success and pro success. Just look at Sampras and Agassi.
A correction - my bad. In my earlier post, I said that the USTA had not had Jarmere Jenkins thoroughly checked to try to address his cramping. I have now learned that they have. My apologies to the USTA.
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