Thursday, July 27, 2017

2017 BB&T Atlanta Open #BBTAO @bbtatlantaopen Wednesday, July 26 recap

A beautiful (if hot) day for tennis without rain (first time this week?) featured several upsets in both singles and doubles, with many matches being decided in 3 sets.  American Tommy Paul moved forward with a win over Malek Jaziri, the only player from Tunisia on the ATP tour, 6-7, 6-4, 6-3.

Presiding over the match was Mohamed Lahyani of Sweden
While this was going on, the second seeded doubles team - and 2017 French Open Champions - Ryan Harrison and Michael Venus were being beaten in three sets by Argentine's Andres Molteni and Canadian Adil Shamasdin, who won 6-4, 0-6, 10-7.

Almost looks like a foot-fault, right?
2017 Wimbledon giant killer Gilles Muller, who beat Rafael Nadal in a match that culminated in a 15-13 fifth set, took three sets to beat France's Quentin Halys, 6-4, 6-7, 6-3.  In a bizarre, extremely rare occurrence, the net cable snapped in the third game, causing an almost 20 minute delay after which the players were allowed a five minute warm-up:

Atlanta's heat and humidity were too much for this net
The next match up on the Stadium Court featured Atlanta native Donald Young and Lukas Lacko, whose forehand was the difference.  The Slovakian beat the American in less than an hour, 6-3, 6-1.

Donald Young has rarely played well in Atlanta
This was followed by the evening's featured match between three-time BB&T Atlanta Open Champion and University of Georgia star John Isner and Canadian Vasek Pospisil, which the big man won in short order, 6-4, 6-3.

Pospisil & Jack Sock won the 2014 Wimbledon doubles title
Will Isner win his fourth BB&T?
Thursday's lineup will include fourth seeded Ryan Harrison's first singles match (vs. Australian John Millman), followed by Georgia Tech's Christopher Eubanks vs. up-and-comer Jared Donaldson, and top-seeded Jack Sock's first singles match (vs. the diminutive Dudi Sela), all on the Stadium Court.

I have to thank my volunteer coordinator Claire and the tournament's volunteer coordinator Jane for giving me a Stadium Court pass for yesterday; I really appreciated it and it has been my honor to serve in Volunteer Services.  Today is my last day, recap with pictures tomorrow.

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