The rain at the Citi Open did little to dampen the spirits of the American crowd after teenagers Taylor Fritz and Jared Donaldson secured their places in the second round.
World No.67 Fritz fired 11 aces to defeat Israel’s Dudi Sela 6-4, 6-3, in just 79 minutes. Sela entered the match high in confidence after reaching the quarter-finals in Newport last week. The win has finally ended Fritz’s run of three consecutive first round defeats.
Fritz is currently the only player under the age of 18 ranked in the top-100. Earlier in the year, he became the youngest American player to reach an ATP final since Michael Chang in 1989. In the second round Fritz will play German seventh seed Alexander Zverev in what will be the first ever meeting between the two youngsters. Zverev received a bye in the first round.
Another American victory was that of Jared Donaldson. Facing Vincent Millot in the battle of the qualifiers, the 19-year-old outlasted the Frenchman 5-7, 6-2, 6-4, in a match that was three minutes shy of the two-hour mark. Throughout the encounter Donaldson produced nine aces and claimed 83% of his first serves.
Claiming only his fifth win on the ATP Tour, Donaldson will play another French player in the second round, fourth seed Benoit Paire.
It wasn’t just the American players that enjoyed success on the first day of the tournament. Great Britain’s Dan Evans claimed his first ever win in an ATP 500 tournament by crushing Germany’s Benjamin Becker 6-2, 6-1, in just 49 minutes. Evans won 53 of the 82 points played in the match. This impressive win comes shortly after his run to the third round of the Wimbledon championships, which elevated him to a career ranking best of 73rd in the world.
Japan’s Yuichi Sugita recovered from a poor start to defeat 2014 runner-up Vasek Pospisil 1-6, 6-2, 7-6(4). The Japanese player has attributed the win to his movement on the court.
“In the first set, I made a lot of mistakes and could not get a good feel for my groundstrokes. Moving back a bit and focusing on my first serve made a big difference,” Sugita told atpworldtour.com.
“I’m always learning. I enjoy moving on the court, even in the hot conditions here. I can run until the end of any match, so that’s my weapon.”
Finally, Australian fans were given three reasons to celebrate with a trio of victories. James Duckworth dismissed Tim Smyczek 7-5, 6-1, a player ranked almost 100 places higher than him. John Millman outpowered Denis Kudla 7-5, 6-0. Finally, Jordan Thompson eased his way past Víctor Estrella Burgos 6-2, 6-3.
