©Colette Lewis 2026--
Bloomfield Hills MI--
My already brief visit to the
ATP Challenger 125 Cranbrook Tennis Classic was truncated even further today by several delays, with the first due to a malfunction in the Electronic Line Calling system, and then rain delays as afternoon showers popped up.
This is the first year Challengers have regularly used ELC, with the Bolt6 system approved for the top level of professional competition. It requires multiple cameras mounted around all match courts, which at the CTC are Courts, 1, 2, and 3.
The first two matches of the day were late in the first set, in the the Jacob Fearnley-Remy Bartola match, and early in the second set, in the case of the Roger Pascual-Masamichi Imamura match.
The malfunction, which apparently was at the off-site data processing center, caused a 45-minute delay as the on-site staff attempted to trouble-shoot the problem, and there were still issues with the system not producing audible calls, or the chair unable to confirm the call on their ipads. Eventually, after nearly an hour, all issues were resolved, but there was, of course, plenty of frustration.
I am accustomed to the Play-Replay system, which uses a camera mounted on the net, and is the ELC used for collegiate competition, and I know there have been occasional issues with that going down as well. But from what I've heard from people who have seen this ELC system this year at Challengers, delays like this are not uncommon. Last week at the Lincoln Challenger 75 a similar problem developed, and I'm surprised that this is considered acceptable. I know there is no alternative once the ELC has been mandated, but the reliability of the system, not just its accuracy, should be considered when certifying it.
While Fearnley and Pascual got through their matches in straight sets, two first round matches went to third-set tiebreakers. In the battle of qualifier Alan Magadan(UTSA, Texas A&M) and lucky loser Stefan Kozlov, Magadan overcame back-to-back double faults in the final set tiebreaker to win the last three points of the match in his 3-6, 6-1, 7-6(4) victory.
For Andres Martin, the former Georgia Tech All-American, the prospect of third set tiebreaker was no doubt discouraging, as he was up 6-5, 40-15 in the third set of his first round match on Center Court against No. 7 seed Dane Sweeny of Australia.
On his first match point, Martin netted a forehand after a brief rally; on the second, Sweeny came up with winner from out of nowhere, tracking down Martin's deep backhand down the line approach in the forehand corner and blocking a short angle pass by Martin.
Martin went on to drop the game after two deuces, but the degree of difficulty of that winner did help him discount its impact.
"Yeah, it was insane," Martin said to Alex Gruskin of Cracked Racquets. "He hit that shot and I was just like, wow. There's no way, he couldn't do that again if he wanted to. I'm like, the universe just wants me to go through this, honestly, that's what I was saying. For some reason I have to play this breaker now, but I'm here to compete and this is what I trained for."
Martin, who lost to Mark Lajal in the final of last year's CTC 6-7(7), 7-5, 7-6(9), faced a match point of his own in the tiebreaker when Sweeny's return of a good first serve handcuffed Martin when it landed right on the baseline, giving Sweeny 6-5 lead on his serve. But after a good serve, his plus-one forehand was wildly long and wide, and no doubt rattled after that error, he double faulted. This time Martin, a favorite of the crowd after his run last year, converted his match point, with Sweeny hitting a forehand long after a brief rally.
Martin will face Spain's Pascual, a rising junior at TCU, who advanced to the second round of a Challenger for the second time with his 6-1, 6-1 win over Imamura earlier.
With that two-hour and 30-minute match, which was delayed in starting due to the ELC malfunction, and Lajal's three-set win over 2025 Kalamazoo champion Darwin Blanch, plus two rain delays, the final match on Center Court between top seed Alex Michelsen and lucky loser Aidan Mayo was going to be racing against darkness, with the Cranbrook Tennis Complex having no lights. Mayo, who replaced Arthur Gea of France, who had travel issues and withdrew just minutes before the match, dropped the first set 6-3, but led 3-2 on serve in the second set when a serious rain storm arrived, cancelling play for the day.
In addition to Challenger TV, which provides streams of all courts, Tennis Channel is providing live coverage of selected Center Court matches on their app.
Cranbrook Tennis Classic - Bloomfield Hills, MI, United States
$225,000
19 - 26 July 2026
Results - Tuesday, 21 July 2026
Men's Singles - Round of 32
[4] Coleman Wong (HKG) d [WC] Spencer Johnson (USA) 62 64
[5] Pablo Llamas Ruiz (ESP) d [Q] Bruno Kuzuhara (USA) 63 64
[Alt] Andres Martin (USA) d [7] Dane Sweeny (AUS) 46 63 76(6)
[8] Jacob Fearnley (GBR) d Remy Bertola (SUI) 64 64
[WC] Thanasi Kokkinakis (AUS) d [Q] Evan Zhu (USA) 63 63
Mark Lajal (EST) d [NG] Darwin Blanch (USA) 64 57 64
J.J. Wolf (USA) d Colton Smith (USA) 76(1) 63
Tristan Boyer (USA) d Bernard Tomic (AUS) 13 Retired
[Q] Roger Pascual Ferra (ESP) d [Q] Masamichi Imamura (JPN) 61 61
[Q] Alan Magadan (MEX) d [LL] Stefan Kozlov (USA) 36 61 76(4)
Borna Gojo (CRO) d [Q] Sebastian Gorzny (USA) 62 62
[LL] Dhakshineswar Suresh (IND) d Billy Harris (GBR) 62 64
ORDER OF PLAY - WEDNESDAY, 22 JULY 2026
Center Court - start 11:00
[6] Michael Zheng (USA) vs [Q] Alan Magadan (MEX)
[1] [WC] Alex Michelsen (USA) vs [LL] Aidan Mayo (USA) 63 23
[WC] Thanasi Kokkinakis (AUS) vs [2] Adam Walton (AUS)
Mark Lajal (EST) vs [5] Pablo Llamas Ruiz (ESP)
Not Before 17:00
After Suitable Rest - [WC] Owen DeMuth (USA) / Andres Martin (USA) vs Pablo Llamas Ruiz (ESP) / Abdullah Shelbayh (JOR)
Court 2 - start 11:00
Jason Jung (TPE) / Evan King (USA) vs Calum Puttergill (AUS) / Dane Sweeny (AUS)
Nathaniel Lammons (USA) / Jackson Withrow (USA) vs Alternate
[1] Trey Hilderbrand (USA) / JJ Tracy (USA) vs George Goldhoff (USA) / Cleeve Harper (CAN)
Court 3 - start 11:00
Blake Bayldon (AUS) / Patrick Harper (AUS) vs [2] Finn Reynolds (NZL) / James Watt (NZL)
Borna Gojo (CRO) / Billy Harris (GBR) vs [3] Pruchya Isaro (THA) / Niki Kaliyanda Poonacha (IND)
[4] Ariel Behar (URU) / Anirudh Chandrasekar (IND) vs [WC] Matt Kuhar (USA) / Evan Zhu (USA)
Remy Bertola (SUI) / Moez Echargui (TUN) vs Jody Maginley (ANT) / Karl Poling (USA)
The USTA released the main draw acceptances for the US Open today, with 14 US men and 14 US women on the lists. Click on the headings to see the full list, plus the alternates. The deadline for qualifying is August 3rd.
Ben Shelton
Taylor Fritz
Learner Tien
Frances Tiafoe
Tommy Paul
Brandon Nakashima
Alex Michelsen
Ethan Quinn
Sebastian Korda
Zachary Svajda
Jenson Brooksby
Marcos Giron
Aleks Kovacevic
Emilio Nava
Jessica Pegula
Coco Gauff
Amanda Anisimova
Iva Jovic
Madison Keys
Emma Navarro
Ann Li
McCartney Kessler
Caty McNally
Peyton Stearns
Ashlyn Krueger
Alycia Parks
Taylor Townsend
Katie Volynets
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