Second-seeded Australian Nick Kyrgios and No. 5 seed Fernando Verdasco booked their spots in the quarterfinals of the BB&T Atlanta Open on Thursday. Kyrgios kicked off his campaign with a fairly straightforward 7-6(4), 6-3 victory over 19-year-old American Jared Donaldson, while Verdasco eased past French veteran Julien Benneteau 6-1, 6-3.
A competitive opening set during the night session saw Donaldson save two set points at 5-6, so a tiebreaker had to decide it following 12 consecutive service holds. An early mini-break for Kyrgios gave gave him a quick 4-1 advantage before the wild card took care of his next two service points for 3-4. Kyrgios served his way to a 6-3 lead and the 21-year-old capitalized on his fourth set point–his second in the tiebreaker–by snagging another mini-break.
Set two proved to be much smoother sailing for Kyrgios, as two breaks carried him to 4-1. A slight hiccup on his own serve cost him one of the breaks, but for the most part the world No. 18 had little trouble closing things out.
“I knew that Jared had a good week last week (reached the third round in Toronto as a qualifier), so he was confident,” Kyrgios commented. “I haven’t played too much tennis recently, so I’m happy to be through. The conditions really suited my game. I like the setup here, with the hotel so close to the courts. It’s a great environment.
“It’s tough to return on this surface and the ball flies quite a bit, but as soon as I won the first set I began to feel more comfortable. I’ll have a tough match tomorrow. I’ll need to play even better than tonight.”
Up next for Kyrgios is Verdasco, who started fast against Benneteau and never looked back. The world No. 48 used two breaks to reach 5-1 in the opener and some superb serving in the seventh game allowed him to clinch the set. Verdasco kept rolling in the second, seizing an immediate break before riding his serve all the way to 5-3. The veteran sealed the deal in style, holding emphatically at love.
Other second-round winners on Thursday were Japanese lefty Yoshihito Nishioka, who fought off fourth seed Alexandr Dolgopolov 6-3, 2-6, 6-1, and another left-hander in Horacio Zeballos. The veteran Argentine defeated lucky loser Tobias Kamke 6-1, 6-4. Four of the eight Atlanta quarterfinalists are lefties.
good for the tournament