Photograph by Paige Shaminsky for Texas Student Media
On Day One of the main draw, it was all singles all day long Wednesday at the Greenview Development & Majestic Realty Men’s Pro Tennis Open at the Texas Tennis Center. Each court saw four singles matches, ranging from blowouts to marathons.
Top-seeded Toby Kodat, a 21-year-old from Bradenton, Fla., started the day with a dominant win over Credit Chayarin, 6-1, 6-2.
“It feels good to get the first win out of the way – it’s always the most important one,” said Kodat, who has an ATP ranking of No. 343. “I’m just going to try and keep going and keep playing the same way and do what works well.”
Third-seeded Alistair Gray, the Brit with the one-handed backhand, defeated Piotr Pawlak, 6-3, 6-0. Sixth-seeded Stefan Dostanic defeated Ilgiz Valiev, 6-4, 6-2, dismantling his opponent with his strong serve and consistent play. Eighth-seeded Pierre Yves Bailly, the Longhorn and defending champion, had little trouble with Aggie Luke Casper, winning 6-2, 6-2. Former Longhorn Cleeve Harper defeated Adam Jones, 7-5, 6-1.
On the other end of the spectrum, Marko Mesarovic, the qualifier from Austin, outlasted Giulio Perego of Italy, 6-7(4), 7-6(4), 7-6(7) in 3 hours and 20 minutes. In a match of twists and turns, Mesarovic served for the first set before falling in the first of the tiebreaks. Perego, who plays for A&M, served for the final set and had a match point at 7-6 in the final tiebreak but put an easy forehand into the net. The Italian missed another forehand to give Mesarovic the match and to spur a celebration worthy of a Grand Slam title. Mesarovic dropped to the court, shook his fists, got up and threw his cap high in the air.
The reason for his big reaction? This was the third straight year he qualified at the event but the first time he advanced to the second round.
“I’ve played the main draw here three times, and if I lost again, that would’ve been really disappointing,” said the 20-year-old, who plays for Clemson. “So I’m just happy I got through it.”
Evan Burnett, a Longhorn redshirt freshman, defeated qualifier Antreas Djakouris, 6-3, 2-6, 6-4, in just under three hours. Burnett, pictured above, said it felt good playing on his home courts.
“It was a long three-set match, but I’m happy to get through,” Burnett said. “I was serving well up and down, and when I was serving well, I was dictating (the match) and doing what I wanted. But it was a little windy today and a little cold, so I was having trouble finding it at times.”
Seventh-seeded Nathan Ponwith survived an injury to come away with a 6-2, 6-7(6), 6-4 victory over Arsene Pougault of France in a match that took 2 hours 54 minutes.
In the later matches, No. 2 Duarte Vale of Portugal defeated countryman Tiago Torres, 6-2, 6-7(3), 6-4 and fifth-seeded Max Basing rallied past Viktor Markov, 4-6, 7-6(6), 6-2. In a battle of wild cards, Alex Finkelstein defeated UT redshirt freshman Rahul Sachdev, 3-6, 7-5, 6-2. — Lindsey Plotkin