Purcell Upsets Top Seed At Savannah Challenger

SAVANNAH, May 2, 2018

On day two of main draw action at the $75,000 St. Joseph’s/Candler (SJ/C) Savannah Challenger the young guns advanced to the second round after pulling off a slurry of upsets.

In one of the opening matches of the day, 20-year old Marc Polmans took on US-American wild card Sam Riffice. After dropping the first set 6-1, the Australian was able to find his game and take the match 1-6, 6-4, 6-2 in two hours and three minutes.

Polmans is fresh off a run to the finals of the Tallahassee Tennis Challenger. This year alone, he has already collected three ITF Pro Circuit titles and one ATP Challenger Tour in singles.

Over on center court, his fellow Aussie, Max Purcell, had the task of taking on No. 1 seed Denis Kudla. The US-American was able to take the opening set 6-3, but in the second and third sets, all it would only take Purcell one break of serve in each set to take the match after one hour and 57 minutes with a final score of 3-6, 6-4, 6-4. Purcell is also having a standout season picking up a futures title earlier in the year and making the semifinals of the Tallahassee Tennis Challenger last week.

Later in the day, No. 5 seed Michael Mmoh battled it out against fellow US-American Noah Rubin. Rubin, fresh off the singles title in Tallahassee was looking to extend his lead in the USTA’s Roland Garros Wild Card Challenge, but Mmoh put a stop to that by defeating him in a tight 6-4, 7-6(6) match.

Also advancing to the second round were young guns, Reilly Opelka (d. Strong Kirchheimer) and Jay Clarke (d. 2017 SJ/C Savannah Challenger finalist Joao Pedro Sorgi). Play gets underway on Wednesday morning at 10:30 a.m. local time with Polmans kicking off the action on center court. The Australian will have the task of taking on No. 7 seed Hugo Dellien. Next, up Clarke will play against former world No. 21 Thomaz Bellucci.

Tuesday, May 1 – RESULTS

Singles – First round

Max Purcell, Australia, d. Denis Kudla (1), United States, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4,

WC-Frank Dancevic, Canada, d. Mitchell Krueger, United States, 6-4, 6-4,

Enrique Lopez Perez, Spain, d. Henri Laaksonen (4), Switzerland, 6-0, 6-4,

Q-Karue Sell, Brazil, d. Evan King (8), United States, 6-2, 6-1,

Jay Clarke, Great Britain, d. Q-Joao Pedro Sorgi, Brazil, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2,

Q-Federico Coria, Argentina, d. Miomir Kecmanovic, Serbia, 6-4, 6-4,

Michael Mmoh (5), United States, d. SE-Noah Rubin, United States, 6-4, 7-6(6),

Marc Polmans, Australia, d. WC-Sam Riffice, United States, 1-6, 6-4, 6-2,

Q-Martin Cuevas, Uruguay, d. WC-Trent Bryde, United States, 6-1, 6-4,

Reilly Opelka, United States, d. WC-Strong Kirchheimer, 6-4, 6-3,

Christian Garin, Chile, d. Donald Young (3), United States, 6-3, 4-6, 6-1.

Doubles – First round

Martin Cuevas, Uruguay, and Hugo Dellien, Bolivia, d. WC-Michael Redlicki and Alexandre Rotsaert, United States, 6-1, 4-6, 12-10,

Luke Bambridge, Great Britain, and Akira Santillan, Australia, d. Nathaniel Lammons and Alex Lawson (4), United States, 7-5, 6-3.

Purcell Upsets Top Seed At Savannah Challenger

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