Atlanta Day 1 recap: Querrey, Sela advance to second round

On one hand, it was a disappointing day at the BB&T Atlanta Open. One of the tournament’s main attractions added his name to a growing withdrawal list as Gael Monfils pulled out citing a right knee injury. Later in the day, Atlanta’s own Donald Young bowed out listlessly in the first round via a 6-3, 6-0 loss to Dudi Sela.

Young rocking some nice headphones for his arrival on court:

An afternoon and evening of picture-perfect weather after a morning rain, however, allowed for plenty of entertainment. The event’s opening main-draw match featured a pair of Americans–doubles partners this week, in fact–and it did not disappoint. Sam Querrey and Steve Johnson battled each almost the entire way without a single donation of serve before Querrey finally broke in the final game of the match to prevail 7-6(3), 7-5 in one hour and 32 minutes.

Querrey faced only one break point while firing 20 aces. The No. 9 seed, who took Radek Stepanek’s place in the draw after the veteran Czech withdrew, will go up against Sela in the second round.

Although Young went down, another Atlanta native had more success in Monday’s nightcap. Robby Ginepri teamed up with Ryan Harrison to outlast Ken Skupski and Neal Skupski 4-6, 6-3, 11-9 after saving two match points at 7-9 and 8-9 in the super-tiebreaker. The highlight of what was high-quality encounter from start to finish came at the start of the decisive ‘breaker, when an extended rally ended with Harrison wrapping a forehand around the net-post for a miraculous winner.

Off the court, Wimbledon doubles champions Jack Sock and Vasek Pospisil held their first joint press conference since their triumph at the All-England. Joey Hanf of The Tennis Nerds recapped some of the highlights. When asked about the congratulations they received, Pospisil replied, “the Prime Minister of Canada tweeted me.” Sock: “my mom called me.”

Sock also showcased some impressive shooting skills on the basketball court. He took down Atlanta Hawks’ player DeMarre Carroll in two games of “HORSE.”
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