TIBURON, September 27, 2017
Denis Kudla headlined Tuesday’s first round action at the $100,000 Tiburon Challenger, rallying past fellow US-American and lucky loser Tim Smyczek 6-7, 7-5, 6-3.
The 25-year-old won 63 per cent of his first service points and broke serve seven times to prevail after two hours and 35 minutes. Next up for Kudla will be Mackenzie McDonald, who knocked out the tournament’s number six Darian King from Barbados 7-5, 6-3.
US-American wild card entry Tom Fawcett caused the upset of the day with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 win over top seed Ruben Bemelmans of Belgium. The World No. 1228 from Winnetka fired eight aces, winning 70 per cent of his first service points to secure victory in one hour and 36 minutes. Fawcett will next take on Frank Dancevic of Canada.
Tuesday, September 26, RESULTS
Men’s Singles – First Round
[WC] T. Fawcett (USA) d [1] R. Bemelmans (BEL) 36 63 63
[2] T. Sandgren (USA) d [Q] S. Bangoura (USA) 64 64
[3] Q. Halys (FRA) d [LL] F. Peliwo (CAN) 26 61 62
[LL] J. Choinski (GER) d [5] R. Ramanathan (IND) 61 62
M. McDonald (USA) d [6] D. King (BAR) 75 63
[Q] D. Baughman (USA) d [7] F. Auger-Aliassime (CAN) 62 62
[8] C. Norrie (GBR) d E. Ymer (SWE) 75 36 75
F. Dancevic (CAN) d [WC] A. Sarkissian (USA) 76(5) 64
P. Gunneswaran (IND) d [Q] E. King (USA) 62 64
D. Kudla (USA) d [LL] T. Smyczek (USA) 67(5) 75 63
[PR] A. Gonzalez (COL) d A. Ward (GBR) 62 64
[WC] C. Harrison (USA) d [Q] K. Uchida (JPN) 62 64
B. Schnur (CAN) d [WC] W. Montgomery (RSA) 63 63
