WINSTON-SALEM — With a final round set for Saturday, the Winston-Salem Open men’s tennis tournament is currently underway at the Wake Forest University Tennis Complex.
The ATP World Tour 250 event — featuring a 48-player draw in singles and 16 teams in doubles — began this past Saturday with 35 top-75 players in the ATP 2024 world rankings.
The open has served as the final men’s tournament prior to the US Open for the past 13 years.
Returning 2023 singles champion and top seed Sebastian Baez (No. 21) was set to square off in the second round on Tuesday with Croatian native Borna Coric (No. 87), who defeated Sumit Nagal (No. 72) 6-4, 6-2 in 70 minutes on Sunday.
“I like the fast conditions, and obviously, also during the day, it’s actually much quicker than when I play at night,” said Coric, who now has a 8-3 record in Winston-Salem. “But I like the city as well. It’s obviously very calm and before I go to New York, I need some calm, so that’s very good.”
The three-time ATP Tour titlist will face Rinky Hijikata (No. 65) in the Round of 16 if he gets past Baez.
“I knew obviously I didn’t need to panic, because it was still one-all, and I just stayed calm,” Coric said of his match with Nagal. “I was feeling very good on the court today, so I knew I just needed to be patient, and my time would come.”
Zachary Svajda (No. 107), Learner Tien (No. 230), Alex Michelsen (No. 52), and Christopher Eubanks (No. 120) are the four American players who advanced to the second round of play.
“This feels good. I haven’t been back here since 2019,” said Eubanks, who earned a Round of 32 matchup with tournament 14-seed and ATP No. 61 Hugo Gaston. “I love playing in the south in general, so I’m excited to be back in Winston and get my first win.”
Meanwhile, Australia’s Aleksandar Vukic (No. 94) beat Daniel Evans (No. 186) 2-6, 6-4, 6-1 before taking down Adrian Mannarino (No. 42) 7-6, 2-6, 6-1. Vukic was set to play either Alexander Shevchenko (No. 60) or Pablo Carreno Busta (No. 299) in the third round.
Tuesday’s second round of singles also included matches from Arthur Rinderknech (No. 56)/Christopher O’Connell (No. 86), as well as David Goffin (No. 90)/Luciano Darderi (No. 38) and Tomas Martin Etcheverry (No. 34)/Zizou Bergs (No. 85).
“It was a nice atmosphere, and the night session is always special. It’s a good win. It’s a tough win,” Bergs said after defeating American Reilly Opelka 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(1). “I feel like I haven’t won a lot of matches lately, so it’s very important to get a victory in, especially a tight one.”
Over on the smaller doubles bracket, reigning Winston-Salem Open doubles champions Nathaniel Lammons (No. 26) and Jackson Withrow (No. 26) advanced to the quarterfinals.
The two Americans — the only ones left in their bracket — were scheduled to play either Rafael Matos (No. 33) and Marcelo Melo (No. 38) or Alexander Erler (No. 49) and Robin Haase (No. 1187).
With the tournament set in Winston-Salem, it was only fitting that a Wake Forest men’s doubles team clinched its first-ever pro match win.
Despite never playing doubles together at Wake, Demon Deacon stars DK Suresh (No. 1087) and Luca Pow (No. 1283) won their first-round match with a 6-4, 5-7, 10-8 upset win over Ariel Behar (No. 43) and Andres Molteni (No. 30).
“It was amazing to do this in front of the home crowd and we want to thank all the fans who came out. Obviously, it’s cool playing with the team and it’s a different environment,” Suresh said after the match. “But actually, playing at the pro level you are playing for yourself. This is everybody’s dream to turn pro and I can’t explain what I’m going through right now.”
It marked the first time a current Wake Forest player won a match in the main draw of the Winston-Salem Open since Cory Parr in 2011.
“It was tough,” Pow added. “Me and DK haven’t played doubles before together. I knew I was going to have to perform for him and I’ve won a lot, but I don’t have anything to my name, but I performed and DK performed, and we played some great tennis.”
The pair was set to face Gonzalo Escobar (No. 53) and Aleksandr Nedovyesov (No. 56) in the round of 16 on Wednesday.
