CARY/STARNBERG, September 15, 2021
The Atlantic Tire Championships ATP Challenger Tour tournament, being held at Cary, North Carolina, completed the singles first-round on Tuesday.
Five US-Americans advanced to the second round. Michael Mmoh and qualifier Aleksandar Kovacevic both advanced with straight set victories, 6-1, 6-3 and 7-6(3), 6-4 respectively. Meanwhile Bjorn Frantangelo earned a spot in the second round through a three-set win over fellow US-American Alexander Sarkissian, 6-2, 5-7, 6-1.
Rounding out the advancing local favourites were wild card entry Zachary Svajda due to a retirement of Stefan Kozlov from the United States and Christopher Eubanks by a default of top seed Tenny Sandgren. Apparently, the World No. 103 hit a lines judge with a ball in the second game. After a longer discussion, the supervisor had no choice but to default Sandgren.
So tonight I got hit in the nuts by a ball kid toss with a little too much mustard, slapped the wayward ball into the fence, which collided with a refs tushy as he was walking to the other side, resulting in a default.
How’s your evening going? 😂 pic.twitter.com/Tqe7lOkCLy— Tennys Sandgren (@TennysSandgren) September 15, 2021
Both Svajda and Eubanks recently played high profile matches at this year’s US Open. Svajda played a second-round match against Jannik Sinner of Italy and Eubanks played fellow countryman Frances Tiafoe in the first round.
In doubles action, the defending champions of the Atlantic Tire Championships, Christian Harrison and Dennis Novikov, continued their doubles success in their first-round match.
Tuesday, September 14 – Results
Singles – First Round
C. Eubanks (USA) def. [1] T. Sandgren (USA) 0-1 Defaulted
[Q] R. Hijikata (AUS) def. [5] J. Jung (TPE) 6-4, 6-4
[7] M. Mmoh (USA) def. N.Rubin (USA) 6-1, 6-3
[8] B. Frantangelo (USA) def [Q] A. Sarkissian (USA) 6-2, 5-7, 6-1
R. Peniston (GBR) def. P. Polansky (CAN) 6-3, 6-2
[Q] S. Mochizuki (JPN) def. U Blanch (USA) 7-5, 6-0
[WC] Z. Svajda (USA) def S. Kozlov (USA) 7-5, 2-0
S. Mukund (IND) def [WC] L Staeheli (SUI) 6-3, 5-7,
[Q] A. Kovacevic (USA) def. [WC] G. Johns (USA) 7-6(3), 6-4
Doubles – First Round
[4] C. Harrison (USA) / D. Novikov (USA) def. [WC] R. Catry (USA) / D. Salvestre (FRA) 6-3, 6-4
T. Fancutt (AUS) / J. Kubler (AUS) def M. Redlicki (USA) / D. Young (USA) 6-3, 7-6(4)
JC Aragone (USA) / N. Barrietos (COL) def. [WC] G. Johns (USA) / S. Sculley (USA) 6-4, 6-4
J. Jung (TPE) / M. Krueger (USA) def. [WC] B. Cernoch (USA) / M. Kiger (USA) 7-6(6), 3-6, 10-5
