Quinn Fights Off Jet Lag and SMU's Trevor Svajda to Advance, Spizzirri Uses Texas Support to Reach Second Round at ATP 500 Dallas Open

©Colette Lewis 2026--
Dallas, Texas--

I spent the day at the ATP 500 Nexo Dallas Open, watching many of the players I've covered in the juniors and in college competing or practicing at the highest levels of the game. 

I decided to focus on the two matches played on the Grandstand court at the Ford Center at The Star in Frisco, which is where the Dallas Cowboys conduct their training camp.

Although most of the impressive midweek crowd was glued to the Center Court for 2024 champion Tommy Paul's 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(4) win over Jenson Brooksby, I wanted to watch the match between two former Kalamazoo 18s finalists: Ethan Quinn and wild card Trevor Svajda.

Quinn, now No. 74 in the ATP rankings, had played the SMU junior last year in the Dallas Open first round, earning a 6-4, 6-2 victory, but today's match was much closer, with Quinn earning a 7-6(3), 7-5 victory.

Svajda, a 19-year-old from San Diego, earned the first break of the match going up 3-2 in the first set, but Quinn immediately got the break back and earned a set point with Svajda serving at 4-5. But Svajda saved it with a good first serve, hit one of his six aces on the next point and put a forehand on the baseline to hold. 

In the tiebreaker Svajda made an unforced error to fall behind 4-2 and Quinn took control with a perfect and rare drop shot winner to go up 6-3. Svajda missed a backhand wide to give Quinn the set, but continued to go toe-to-toe with the 21-year-old Californian throughout the second set, holding from 0-40 down at 4-all with some clutch serving. 

But Quinn was holding much more easily and with Svajda serving at 5-all 15-30, Quinn got an extremely fortunate let cord winner on a return and converted on his first break point. 

Quinn dropped the first point, but raised his level after that, closing out Svajda with his seventh and eighth aces of the match.

After winning his Davis Cup singles match in Hungary on Saturday, an emotionally draining 13-11 in a third set tiebreaker over Fabian Marozsan, Quinn was happy to have a Wednesday noon start.

"I'm a little tired," Quinn said in a Mixed Zone interview after the match. "It's always a challenge going from one continent to the next, from Australia, back to North America, having just three or four nights to adjust to North American time zone, then go to Europe and adjust to that time zone. It's difficult, but that's just a part of professional tennis and as you do it more and more you just kind of get used to it. This is one of the first times I've had to do that and it definitely got to me a little bit, but it was nice that the tournament accommodated me, giving me a Wednesday start, first on. If I was playing later today, I don't know how that would have gone."

Quinn said he was impressed with how Svajda's game has improved in the past twelve months.

"Last year I was able to be a little bit more physical with him, hit him off the court a little bit," said Quinn, who lost to Learner Tien in the 2022 Kalamazoo 18s final, and won the NCAA title while a freshman at Georgia the following year. "This year Trevor was more aggressive with his second serve, moving his spots a little more. On the deuce side, his slider wide has improved a ton, and he was able to hit that spot short in the box and I was really having to go out and get it."

Quinn has been known for his potent forehand, but he has worked hard on his backhand in the past year.

"My backhand side is nails now," Quinn said. "It's very solid, I've beaten guys on big points just backhand to backhand. In Davis Cup, there was a lot of huge points that I beat Fabian just backhand to backhand, breaking him down, so from last year to now, I think that's the biggest improvement I made, along with my serve. I'm able to hit my spots a little better, a little bit bigger."

Quinn's second round opponent is 37-year-old Marin Cilic of Croatia, who won his 600th ATP match and prevented a rematch of that 2022 Kalamazoo final with a 7-5, 7-6(4) win over Learner Tien Tuesday.

"I saw that he won his 600th ATP match yesterday," Quinn said. "I mean, that's just unbelievable how long he's been able to do it. I remember as a kid, watching him win the US Open in an era that was dominated by three guys. Looking at him, you know I've thought, it's possible. Right now it's like Jannik and Carlos are the guys you're going to have to get through, but it's possible to win a grand slam (now) because he's proven it. So to be on the other side of the court from him, it's an honor."

Following Quinn and Svajda on Grandstand were Eliot Spizzirri and James Duckworth, with Duckworth getting the Wednesday start after playing Davis Cup for Australia over the weekend in Ecuador.

Spizzirri was in control from the start, got a break at 3-all in the second set and closed out the match with his best game of the match with two winners and two great serves for a 6-2, 6-4 victory.

The 24-year-old from Connecticut pointed to his improvement on that shot as one of the reasons he has risen to a career-high ATP ranking of 68.

"I would say the serve is a big area of my game that I've improved," Spizzirri said. "It's allowed me to free me up on return games, and get free points in service games. It's obviously one of the most important shots in tennis, and with that improved, it's carried over to better decision making in other parts of my game."

After his stunning match against Jannik Sinner in the third round of the Australian Open last month, Spizzirri admitted to seeing a change in the recognition he received.

"A little bit, I would say more immediately after (the Sinner match)," Spizzirri said. "When I was in Australia, the airport stuff and then at home. But not a crazy amount. It's definitely something you kind of notice, but I don't want to read too much into it. I am in Dallas, and I played a lot of tennis in Texas, so I wasn't surprised there's a few Longhorns here cheering me on."

Spizzirri flashed the Hook 'em Horns sign to the Texas fans after he finished the match, with many of those fans no doubt looking forward to his next match at the Dallas Open with college rival Jack Pinnington Jones of TCU. The pair faced off at No. 1 singles in the 2024 NCAA team final, with Pinnington Jones winning  2-6, 6-4, 6-2 to give TCU its third point in a 4-3 victory.

Pinnington Jones, who qualified for the main draw, earned his spot in the second round Tuesday with a 6-2, 6-2 win over No. 4 seed Flavio Cobolli of Italy.

Quinn and Spizzirri are both scheduled to play at noon on Thursday, but I'll be at media day for the ITA Men's Team Indoor Championships at SMU all day, so will be following results from there.