Tampa, FL--
When matches began this morning at the Futures event at the City of Tampa courts at Hillsborough Community College, the weather was perfect--sunny, just a slight breeze, temperatures in the 60s. As promised, I went straight to the Somdev Devvarman/Pavel Chekhov match, and though the tennis wasn't consistently outstanding, it was certainly close, with Devvarman taking a 7-6 (2), 7-6 (5) decision. The battle of qualifiers took nearly two and a half hours, and by the second tiebreak, the wind began to insert itself into the action. Serving down match point (4-6), Chekhov twice had to restart the point when first a bottle blew on the court, causing a let, and then a a chair tipped over leading to another let on the same point. Chekhov kept that scenario from repeating again by delivering an ace, but his wide forehand on the next point gave Devvarman, a junior at the University of Virginia, his sixth straight win.
Devvarman was able to keep the 18-year-old Russian from teeing off on his forehand, using a variety of pace and spin. Chekhov's serve can also provide him with free points, and it did, especially at the beginning of the match, but Devvarman began to read it more successfully and return more first serves as the match progressed. Devvarman's next opponent is Conor Niland, a former star at Cal-Berkeley, who defeated Marcus Fugate 6-3, 7-5. Fugate served for the second set and had two set points at 5-4, but couldn't extend the match.
All of the seeded men advanced, including No. 4 Nikita Kryvonos and No. 8 Donald Young, who will meet in Friday's quarterfinals.
Kryvonos defeated Fritz Wolmarans of South Africa 7-5, 6-2; Young outlasted wild card Dmitri Vlasov of Russia 7-6 (9), 4-1 ret.
Young needed six set points to finish off Vlasov in the first set, missing an opportunity to avoid a tiebreak when he couldn't convert on one set point when serving at 5-3. Vlasov managed to wriggle free four more times in the tiebreak, often coaxing an error with a sharply angled shot short of the service line, but he was warring with the chair umpire as much as he was with Young, and received a point penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct by the second set. Broken strings, let cords, balls from the next court causing inopportune lets--nothing seemed to go right for the 24-year-old right-hander, and his will to fight all the bad luck evaporated by the time Young had a two break lead in the second set. A trainer was never called; instead, ITF supervisor Jim Handly was summoned, and after a brief discussion, Vlasov retired.
Also advancing was former Duke star Michael Yani, the No. 6 seed, who defeated Mashishka Washington 4-6, 6-3, 7-5. His opponent on Friday will be No. 3 seed Michael Lammer of Switzerland, who also overcame a first set loss, eliminating qualifier Antonio Ruiz-Rosales 6-7 (4), 6-2, 6-2.
Three women from the U.S. remain in the women's draw--Julie Ditty, Audra Cohen and Sunitha Rao. Ditty dropped the first set against qualifier Sorana-Mihaela Cirstea of Romania but rebounded 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 and on Friday faces Cohen, who used strong serving to roll to a 6-3, 6-1 win over former University of Alabama standout Robin Stephenson. Rao also had little difficulty, eliminating Romana Tedjakusuma of Indonesia 6-0, 6-2. Rao plays qualifier Alina Jidkova of Russia, who upset No. 2 seed Andrea Hlavackova of the Czech Republic. Top seed Pauline Parmentier of France was also ousted, leaving Rao, at No. 5, as the highest seed left in the women's tournament.
The men's doubles finals are set, although the match won't be played until Saturday. Devvarman and fellow Virginia Cavalier Treat Huey upset the top-seeded team of Dusan Vemic and Goran Dragicevic 2-6, 6-1, 6-1 and will meet another unseeded pair: James Cerretani and Antonio Ruiz-Rosales. Cerretani and Ruiz-Rosales dispatched Chris Wettengel and Michael Yani 6-1, 6-2.
For full draws, including women's doubles, see the Pro Circuit home page.
