LEXINGTON, July 28, 2016
US-American Mitchell Krueger’s stunning upset of top-seeded Adrian Mannarino headlined play on Wednesday at the 2016 Kentucky Bank Tennis Championships on the University of Kentucky in Lexington.
Mannarino dropped the first set 6-2, but quickly responded with a 6-1 second set win to force the match to a third and decisive frame to decide who earned a spot into the quarterfinals of the 2016 Kentucky Bank Tennis Championships.
Mannarino broke Krueger in the opening game of the second set, and held that break for the next seven games before Krueger had a nice forehand winner to push the third set level at four games all. After a quick service hold from Krueger, Mannarino served at 4-5 and was broken at love for a 6-4 third-set win.
The win for Krueger from Fort Worth, Texas, was one of the biggest in his career rankings-wise as that is sure to boost his current world ranking of No. 192 in the ATP ranking in the last world release.
That match was the theme of the day on both the men’s and the women’s side, as seeds were falling left and right in the heat of the Lexington sun. Andrew Whittington (AUS), who already knocked off fifth-seeded Bjorn Fratangelo (USA) on Tuesday, advanced into the quarterfinals with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND), and on the women’s side it was much of the same.
Seventh-seeded Miyu Kato (JPN) was ousted by fellow countrywoman Riko Sawayangi (JPN) 7-6 (5), 6-4, eighth-seeded Anastasia Pivovarova (RUS) was knocked out of the tournament by Greetje Minnen (BEL) of Belgium, who was a qualifier into the event. Sixth-seeded Grace Min (USA) headlined the night session on Wednesday in singles, and was forced to the brink in the third set, and was broken at 5-6 in the third set to lose to [WC] Francesca Di Lorenzo (USA) in three tight sets and 7-5 in the third.
In Thursday’s action, the day session will feature Alex Kuznetsov (USA) vs. Stefan Kozlov (USA) in the first match of the day on the men’s side beginning at 10 a.m. ET on court one. The women’s draw on court two will have qualifier Greetje Minnen (BEL) facing Kristie Ahn (USA).
The night session will feature former UK great Eric Quigley in doubles teaming with Nicolas Meister (USA) to face fourth-seeded Luke Saville and Jordan Thompson (AUS). Singles under the lights will come second in the night session with Rio-bound Brian Baker facing off against Liam Broady (GBR) in a second round match for a spot in the quarterfinals. Francesca De Lorenzo (USA) will play Sabrina Sharipova (UZB) first on court in the night session of the women’s draw.
Wednesday, July 27 – Results
RESULTS – JULY 27, 2016
Men’s Singles – Second Round
M. Krueger (USA) d [1] A. Mannarino (FRA) 62 16 64
E. Escobedo (USA) d [4] J. Thompson (AUS) 64 75
[7] F. Tiafoe (USA) d B. Klein (GBR) 64 36 64
[Q] L. Glasspool (GBR) d N. Meister (USA) 63 62
First Round
A. Whittington (AUS) d [5] B. Fratangelo (USA) 63 62
Men’s Doubles – Quarterfinals
H. Moriya (JPN) / Y. Uchiyama (JPN) d [1] F. Nielsen (DEN) / D. O’Hare (IRL) 76(4) 62
First Round
[2] D. O’Brien (RSA) / R. Roelofse (RSA) d M. Krueger (USA) / M. McDonald (USA) 64 64
N. Scholtz (RSA) / T. Vorster (RSA) d [3] A. Golubev (KAZ) / M. Reid (AUS) 76(4) 63
[4] L. Saville (AUS) / J. Thompson (AUS) d G. Clezar (BRA) / M. Demoliner (BRA) 63 62
N. Meister (USA) / E. Quigley (USA) d [WC] N. Ellefsen (NOR) / E. Wallart (FRA) 60 64
J. Nedunchezhiyan (IND) / R. Ramanathan (IND) d B. Klein (GBR) / A. Whittington (AUS) 76(5) 46 12-10
