Defending champion Jack Sock kicked-off his title defense with a comfortable 6-2, 7-6(5), win over Matthew Barton in the second round of the U.S Men’s Clay Court Championships.
The world No.25 was almost untouchable during the first set as he dropped just four points on his serve to seal the set after 24 minutes of action. The straightforward encounter for Sock ended during the early stages of the second set when Barton recovered his break of serve to level 2-2, before taking proceedings to a tiebreak. Sock survived the tense tiebreaker, which consisted of five breaks of serve, to edge past the Australian.
Following his win over Barton, Sock praised the Australian and his blistering serve. Barton produced seven aces during the match compared to Sock’s five.
“It’s never easy playing a guy you’ve never faced before and who you haven’t seen,” Sock was quoted by ATP World Tour as saying.
“He’s very athletic and has a pretty big serve. He hit a couple at 138mph. I didn’t realise he had that massive of a serve”.
Houston is a very special venue for Sock, who won his first and so far only ATP singles title 12 months ago when he defeated Sam Querrey. If he successfully defends his title, he will become the first player to win back-to-back titles in Houston since Andre Agassi back in 2003.
“I’ve been here for a week practicing, so I was a bit anxious to get on the court and play my first match. I felt happy with my one-two punch. I dictated well with my forehand.” Sock added.
The next obstacle in Sock’s route to the final will be Marcos Baghdatis. Aided by six aces and a 72% first serve success rate, the seventh seed eased his way past Fernando Verdasco 6-4, 6-3. The entertaining Cypriot will now play in his third ATP final this year in Houston after Montpellier and Doha. Despite his comprehensive win over Verdasco, Baghdatis candidly admitted that Verdasco is the better player on the clay out of them both.
“Fernando is a better player than me on clay, that’s for sure, but I tried to not give him rhythm,” Baghdatis said.
“I tried to play a lot of drop shots and make him move as much as I can. I’m happy with the way I served. I think I got a lot of free points and I think that made the difference.”
Elsewhere, Feliciano Lopez continued his hunt for his first ATP title since 2014 with a 7-6(4), 6-1, triumph over Slovakia’s Lukas Lacko. The 34-year-old impressively won 87% of his first service points and 74% of his his second. Awaiting him in the quarterfinals will be American wildcard Tim Smyczek. During his all-American encounter with Donald Young, the world No.125 took the match 6-2, 6-4.
Quarterfinal line-up (seeded players in bold)
(4) J. Sock USA Vs (7) M. Baghdatis CYP
(1) J. Isner USA Vs H. Chung KOR
(3) F. Lopez ESP Vs T. Smyczek USA
(5) S. Querrey USA Vs J. Monaco ARG
