Giron Earns First ATP Top 20 Win, Brady Advances in Ostrava; Montgomery Reaches $25K Quarterfinal; Finals Friday at Atlanta Grade 4; Coleman Claims Bulgaria Grade 1 Quarterfinal Berth
2014 NCAA singles champion Marcos Giron has achieved a handful of career firsts since the restart, including his first main draw grand slam win (US Open), his first French Open main draw win, and his first appearance in the ATP Top 100. Tonight at the ATP 250 European Open in Belgium, the 27-year-old former UCLA Bruin added two more accomplishments, earning his first ATP Top 20 victory and reaching his first ATP quarterfinal. Giron took advantage of the inconsistency and poor serving of top seed and ATP No. 14 David Goffin in Goffin's home country, posting a 6-3, 7-5 victory. Giron played nearly flawless tennis in the opening set, building a 5-1 lead before Goffin began to show some signs of life.
The second set was more competitive, but it was Giron who was able to prevail on the important points, saving eight of ten break points. After Goffin took a 5-4 lead in the second set, Giron took charge, winning 12 of the next 15 to earn his place in the quarterfinals. Giron will play No. 8 seed Alex De Minaur of Australia, who was his previous best win prior to tonight, with Giron defeating the then 24th-ranked De Minaur in the second round at Indian Wells last year 1-6, 6-4, 6-2.
For more on Giron's win, see this article from the ATP website.
Giron wasn't the only former UCLA star to pick up a win today in Europe; Jennifer Brady came from 2-5 down in the first set at the WTA Premier in the Czech Republic, defeating qualifier Daria Kasatkina of Russia 7-5, 6-2. Brady will face another qualifier, Veronika Kudermetova of Russia, who beat No. 2 seed Karolina Pliskova 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 today.
Robin Montgomery has advanced to the quarterfinals of a $25,000 event in France for the second consecutive week. The 16-year-old left-hander once again drew Robin Anderson in the first round, and once again got the win over the only other American in the Reims draw. Today Montgomery defeated Olga Danilovic of Serbia 6-4, 6-4 to earn a quarterfinal meeting with No. 2 seed Oceane Dodin of France.
The finals are set at the ITF Grade 4 in Atlanta, with wild card Ashlyn Krueger facing qualifier Emma Charney in the girls final, and No. 3 seed Aidan Kim playing Giulio Perego of Italy in the boys final. Krueger defeated Gracie Epps 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, while Charney took out Grace O'Donnell 6-2, 6-0. Charney, 17, has already won seven matches this week and has yet to drop a set. The 15-year-old Kim defeated Ellis Short 6-2, 6-2 in today's semifinals, while Perego, 17, downed last year's finalist Nishesh Basavareddy, the No. 2 seed, 3-6, 6-2, 6-2.
Krueger, 16, has also advanced to the girls doubles final with partner Marcela Lopez.
At the Grade 1 in Bulgaria, No. 5 seed Ellie Coleman advanced to the quarterfinals, beating Lucie Nguyen Tan of France 6-2, 6-3. Coleman faces top seed Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva of Andorra, who took a late wild card into qualifying, on Friday.
9 comments:
I can't believe no coverage of the Macon tournament today. We finally get an ITF women's tournament in the USA after nothing since March and no story. Also, I commented on the NCAA Championships site selection discriminating against the West Coast and that comment has been removed. How come? Can't we give our opinion?
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@USC ... Sites have to put in a bid to host. There's a good chance that West Coast sites haven't put in bids. It's a ton of work and the Stanford, UCLA and USC's may prefer to focus on competing in it rather than all the other things that go into it. My semi educated guess is if a site like Stanford put in to host again it would get one (back when it was hosting in the late 2000s the committee had a bit of an East/West Coast rotation going). Indian Wells hosted it in the early 90s and it was a disaster - zero fans came out for it.
Need to bid/
IW hosted??! But according to wiki, no...? Men or women https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NCAA_Division_I_Men%27s_Tennis_Championship
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NCAA_Division_I_Women%27s_Tennis_Championship
But even if they hosted, did it rain?? Unlike the East, Illinois and TX/Oklahoma.
Granted IW court arrangement isn't really ideal for college dual format..and USC only has 6 courts with stands. The best facility in the West is Taube but Stanford women win anywhere anyway lol, so... I wonder if Malibu/LATC is feasible. Certainly nearer than WF/UNC!!
Is there an indoor court requirement? Bollocks especially in So. Cal..the safest place from rain!
@fan search harder. Usc was host school but it was at IW. Not sure point of your post.
the point is it doesn't rain in the West. Did it rain at IW? And can anybody tell me there is an indoor requirement for hosting NCAA?
The comment of no fans came out has to be put in perspective. IW is a over a 2 to 3 hour drive from LA, so you aren't going to get much from the small fanbase of college tennis fans there.
Also, USC has had 6 additional courts next to the 6 in Marks Stadium for many years. UCLA's facility was good enough to host the 1984 Olympic tennis and there are 12 courts on the campus. There were good crowds at Stanford for NCAA tennis both times I went.
An attendance factor is how well the event is promoted. When I worked at USC sports information, I got front page sports section stories in the Los Angeles Times the first two days of the tournament and we got fans out. That was before the internet, which has helped draw attention to sports with smaller fanbases (such as this site).
I am not sure why NCAA's have to have men and women at the same site? It seems like the tournaments are much easier to run at separate sites especially if you have to catch up due to weather issues? I am not sure if crowd size should be the issue, Stanford and UCLA have big capacity but never anywhere near full at Stanford, guessing not at UCLA either?
Granted those additional 6 courts at USC..one can't really watch there? There's no seats. But the 6 main courts are the best in college, one can actually watch ALL 6 matches all at once, unlike other big stadiums where there's a barrier at the middle, which includes Taube.
And Max, exactly. Doesn't make sense when they shortened dbls due to late schedule or something lol. ITA even scrapped WAATC at LA and combined with men's at Tulsa!
Now imagine if it rains all week in Orlando 2023 NCAA where 3 Division championships are to be played...!! What a gamble.
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