Two men who have been billed as the hopes for American tennis in the past, but have largely failed to live up to expectations in the past met in the first round in Dallas on Monday.
Ryan Harrison and Alex Kuznetsov have both been charged with being the new hope for American tennis, but with both now languishing with rankings outside the Top 100, have failed to meet their potential. The younger man Harrison did eventually prevail 2-6, 7-5, 7-5. The match itself was almost a microcosm of why these two have struggled with their careers to date. Kuznetsov swept the first set thanks to some horrible serving from Harrison. Both men only managed less than fifty percent first serves in play in the first set, but Harrison was making the Kuznetsov second serve look like that of Pete Sampras by hacking away.
The second set started in a similar vein, as Harrison easily surrendered another break to the now-veteran Kuznetsov. But the more experienced player has issues of his own, and his play deteriorated within sight of the finish line as Harrison returned to serve immediately. It seemed the two might be destined for a tie-break but Harrison, encouraged by his near escape, pressed hard at six-five and was rewarded with the break.
The final set was chaotic, with Harrison racing out to a four-one lead. He had break points for five-one, but Kuznetsov held, and then Harrison lost out when attempting to reach five-two, Kuznetsov determinedly fighting through a tough deuce game for Harrison, finally breaking to level again. Kuznetsov surrendered his serve yet again though, and Harrison looked to have the match sewn up at 40-15 and two match points. Incredibly, he allowed Kuznetsov back in, but the man now ranked outside the top 300 let Harrison off the hook, as Harrison was able to break as Kuznetsov attempted to send the match to a tiebreak.
Other matches in Dallas saw Bjorn Fratangelo defeat the severely out-of-form Jared Donaldson in straight sets, 6-3, 6-4. Dan Evans of Great Britain managed to recover from the loss of the first set to Russian teenager Andrey Rublev, eventually winning 5-7, 6-4, 6-3. Sixth seed Tatsumo Ito edged Denys Molchanov 6-2, 6-7, 7-6, Benjamin Becker defeated South African wildcard Jean Andersen 6-4, 6-3, and defending champion Tim Smyczek beat alternate Mitchell Krueger 6-4, 6-3.
Selected matches and picks for Tuesday (in bold):
Kyle Edmund gets his campaign started against American Sekou Bangoura, and with the American only in the draw courtesy of a wildcard, it is unlikely the second seed will have too many problems.
James McGee faces Dennis Novikov in an interesting clash. Novikov has been trying to break the 150-100 ranking area he’s been stuck in for a while now, but McGee has a good record on American hardcourts, and will be a tough proposition
Clay Thompson and Ernesto Escobedo are both young Americans in the main draw, Thompson through qualifying, and Escobedo by virtue of a wildcard. Thompson has a huge serve, but Escobedo is the more experienced challenger player, and I expect the teenager to win.
