ATLANTA, July 27, 2018
Four more quarterfinal spots were decided on Thursday at the BB&T Atlanta Open in Midtown, Atlanta.
Opening on Stadium Court, Thursday at the BB&T Atlanta Open was crowd favorite, as well as Atlanta native, Donald Young, playing against Matthew Ebden from Australia. Ebden got the lead quick by breaking Young to go up 3-0. After that, both players serves were on fire. It made it difficult to break serve for either player, until Young showed life to get to 5-4. Ebden ultimately held at 5-4, claiming a tight the first set 6-4.
The second set was similar, with each player holding serve while having long rallies in the Atlanta heat. Ebden finally broke Donald’s strong serve at 4-4, giving Ebden the lead to go up 5-4. At this point Ebden held his serve quickly winning the match 6-4, 6-4. Ebden is now sitting in the quarterfinals of the draw, which is the second quarterfinals that he has reached this year.
Twenty-year-old Frances Tiafoe faced off against long time veteran, Marcos Baghdatis in the next second round match. The first set was tight, with Tiafoe in the lead for majority of the set, showing off his nice touch at the net. Baghdatis finally broke Tiafoe’s strong serve to go up 6-5. The veteran then easily held serve to close out the first set, 7-5.
Baghdatis carried his confident, winning momentum into the second set, breaking quickly within the first four games to get up 4-0. Tiafoe then finally held serve to get the score to 1-4 but that wasn’t enough to overcome Baghdatis. Serving well, the 33-year-old righty closed out the match after one hour and 17 minutes with a score of 7-5, 6-1.
Nick at Night
Tournament No. 2 seed, Nick Kyrgios, played his second round singles match on Thursday night. His opponent, US-American, Noah Rubin.
Even though Kyrgios defeated Noah in straight sets, 7-5, 6-2, the match was entertaining and fun for a packed Stadium. Kyrgios used his strong serve to rattle the young US-American. Nick was able to break serve at 6-5 in the first set to win it. After multiple unforced errors from Rubin, Kyrgios took advantage of break point opportunities to cruise to the win after only 56 minutes of play. Next, he will play Cameron Norrie in the quarterfinals.
Some 🔥 forehands from @NickKyrgios give him a straight-sets win and a spot in the quarterfinals of the @BBTatlantaopen.#USOpenSeries pic.twitter.com/3FLudrMsH8
— US Open Tennis (@usopen) 27. Juli 2018
In the meantime, the Aussie loves being back in Atlanta.
“I always feel comfortable playing here. Playing with all the lights, always had fabulous success here, the court suits my playing style. I can serve well and make a couple of returns and play aggressive.”
Ladies Day
Prior to Thursday’s matches, 60 women gathered in the Twelve Hotel ballroom for the BB&T Atlanta Open Ladies Day event. While the ladies sipped on refreshing champagne and ate some tasty appetizers, they got to answer player or tournament questions to win a prize or get a relaxing massage. Dior also attended the event and treated the ladies with makeovers and perfume samples.
The ladies were entertained by The Bryan Brothers and Ryan Harrison with a Q&A by Coach Wayne Bryan. The guys got to speak about upcoming tournaments, favorite victories and even cracked some jokes with each other. The Bryan Brothers answered questions on how to effectively communicate with your doubles partner and how to manage having kids, but still focus on tennis. Ryan Harrison spoke on his play during the tournament, and his first year being married.
The event concluded with a photo opportunity with the players, some fun gift bags from the event vendors.
RESULTS – JULY 26, 2018
Singles – Second Round
[2] N. Kyrgios (AUS) d [Q] N. Rubin (USA) 75 62
[4] M. Ebden (AUS) d [WC] D. Young (USA) 64 64
Baghdatis (CYP) d [5] F. Tiafoe (USA) 75 61
Norrie (GBR) d [6] J. Chardy (FRA) 57 64 64
Doubles – Quarterfinals
Raja (IND) / K. Skupski (GBR) d T. Fritz (USA) / C. Norrie (GBR) 36 61 11-9
