It was only a matter of time before world No.140 Darian king become the first player from his country to win a main draw match on the ATP World Tour in the Open Era.
The 24-year-old finally achieved the milestone on Tuesday at the Memphis Open. Facing Australia’s Bernard Tomic in the first round, the Bridgetown-born player raced to a 6-4, 6-4, win without facing a single break point and winning 77% of his service points.
The disparity in experience between both players is significant. Tomic is a former Wimbledon quarter-finalist who has won 105 matches on the ATP Tour. In contrast, his Barbados conqueror is yet to play in a grand slam tournament.
“It’s a great feeling,” King said following his win. “I prepared very hard throughout my whole life. As I said, to get an opportunity to play on Stadium Court, in front of people, (I don’t) normally get that in Barbados.
“For me, I think it’s a huge achievement. Coming all the way from Barbados, a small country, where discipline is not as big, and for me to come out here and compete with these guys who do it day in and day out, I think it’s a great achievement for me.”
King’s route into tennis has been somewhat different to that of his rivals. Coached by his brother Christopher, he didn’t start playing tennis until the age of 9 and remained committed to football until the age of 12. During his tennis career, King has won 13 titles on the Futures circuit. In 2016 he experienced his first taste of success on the Challenger tour by winning trophies in Cali, Binghamton and Tiburon.
“I played three years in Futures and trained hard with college guys and basically gained my first breakthrough at the Cali Challenger in Columbia against a former Top 50 player, Victor Estrella Burgos,” King said. “From there, I guess, I kind of realized I could play.”
In the second round at Memphis, King will play either Germany’s Dustin Brown or Mikhail Kukushkin.
Joining King in the last 16 of the tournament will be next generation star Taylor Fritz. Fritz, who was runner-up in the event last year, held his nerve to battled past eight seed Lu Yen-Hsun in a two-hour thriller. The 19-year-old saved three match points in the decisive tiebreaker to prevail 4-6, 7-6(4), 7-6(7).
“I really didn’t want to lose in the first round,” Fritz told atpworldtour.com. “I’m all about progress coming back to a tournament I played the year before and wanting to do just as well or better.”
The American teenager will play Australian qualifier Matthew Ebden in the next round.
Tuesday’s results at the Memphis Open
T. Fritz (USA) d [8] Y. Lu (TPE) 46 76(4) 76(7)
[Q] M. Ebden (AUS) d [Q] P. Polansky (CAN) 67(4) 63 61
[Q] T. Smyczek (USA) d [WC] F. Tiafoe (USA) 63 57 63
[7] S. Darcis (BEL) d R. Albot (MDA) 75 36 64
R. Harrison (USA) d K. Kravchuk (RUS) 63 75
Q] D. King (BAR) d [5] B. Tomic (AUS) 64 64
