SARASOTA, April 13, 2016
One of the fastest rising stars in American tennis played nearly flawless tennis Tuesday evening at the White Sands Realty Group/Joey Gratton Foundation $100,000 Sarasota Open at the Lakewood Ranch Athletic & Tennis Center.
Frances Tiafoe, of College Park Maryland knocked out fellow-US-American Tim Skyczek, of Wisconsin, in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3. The match took just one hour and 23 minutes.
Tiafoe now advances to the Round of 16, next playing on Thursday.
Tiafoe won five matches last year at the Sarasota Open, using it, and two subsequent tournaments to springboard as a wildcard into the French Open.
Also Tuesday, Dennis Novikov of San Jose knocked out Dmitry Tursunov of Russia, 6-4, 6-4.
Bjorn Fratangelo of Naples, FL, beat Giovanni Lapentti from Ecuador by an identical score, 6-4, 6-4.
