Jack Sock can do no wrong this summer. First, he won an improbable Wimbledon doubles title with Canadian partner Vasek Pospisil. One week later he reached the Newport semifinals, upsetting John Isner in the process. After Tuesday’s action in Atlanta, it looks like Sock remains in fine form.
Just ask Alejandro Gonzalez.
Gonzalez lost to Sock in both singles and doubles, the former on the Grandstand in the afternoon and the latter on Stadium court in the nightcap. Sock took care of the Colombian 6-2, 6-4 then teamed up with Pospisil–who else?–to beat the all-Colombian duo of Gonzalez and former Georgia Tech player Juan-Carlos Spir 6-4, 6-4. In his singles match, Sock fired nine aces, won 89 percent of his first-serve points, and saved the only break point he faced. Sock and Pospisil also never dropped serve, fighting off all three of their opponents’ break chances–including two at 3-4 in the second set.
A good crowd came out for Sock’s singles match:
Like Sock, fellow American Sam Querrey is also 2-0 already this week. Querrey beat doubles partner Steve Johnson on Monday then teamed up with Johnson on Tuesday to get the best of Denis Istomin and Marinko Matosevic 7-5, 6-4.
Robby Ginepri is also through to the second round in both events. The Atlanta native won his Monday doubles match with Ryan Harrison before pulling off a 7-6(3), 3-6, 6-0 upset of Sergiy Stakhovsky on Tuesday. Ginepri battled back from a break down in the first set then recovered to dominate the third following a mid-match hiccup. The 31-year-old dropped only two service points in the decider and he benefited from 11 Stakhovsky double-faults over the course of one hour and 41 minutes of play.
Ginepri is a former world No. 15 who reached the semifinals of the 2005 U.S. Open. This was his first main-draw victory in an ATP-level tournament since Houston last spring.
“If I can get a streak again, so be it,” the injury-plagued veteran commented. “But I’m just trying to take one day at a time and enjoy it.”
It was not an enjoyable day at the office for Ryan Harrison. On the bright side, the beneficiary of some nasty blisters on Harrison’s left foot was another American, Tim Smyczek. The world No. 112 turned in an impressive performance in his own right while exploiting the movement–or lack thereof–of a hobbled opponent. After a mere 53 minutes, the end result was a 6-0, 6-2 blowout in Smyczek’s favor.
“I was really happy with it,” Smyczek assured. “I went out there with a really clear game-plan and frankly that didn’t change much with him having a little trouble moving. But I was really happy with the way I focused and I think there are a lot of positives to take from it even though he wasn’t moving his best…. I enjoy playing here. It’s a really unique setup and hopefully there will be more tournaments like this one in the future.”
Loved all the photos, and glad to see the Americans doing well, esp Ginepri. I’ll be down there later today, and Th.