Qualifying Begins at Dallas Open

via Dallas Open
 
DALLAS, Feb. 6, 2022 – The first round of the qualifying draw for the 2022 Dallas Open was played on Sunday, with eight singles matches at the Styslinger/Altec Tennis Complex on the campus of SMU.
 
Monday’s competition will include the final round of qualifying play (beginning at 12 p.m. CT), with the four winners of these matches qualifying for the main draw of 28 players. The first round of the main draw singles and doubles will begin play on Monday afternoon (singles not before 4:00 p.m.). Monday’s matches will be played on both the Stadium Court and the Grandstand Court.
 
Sunday’s opening qualifying matches kicked off with Jurij Rodionov defeating wildcard and current SMU sophomore Liam Krall in his ATP Tour debut, 7-6(1), 6-3. The first set was extremely tight, with neither player getting broken. Rodionov would eventually take the back and forth set 7-1 in the tie-break. The Austrian used that momentum in the second set to defeat Krall 6-3 in front of a large crowd that showed its enthusiasm for the young SMU Mustang.
Jason Jung of Chinese Taipei came back to defeat Go Soeda of Japan 3-6, 6-1, 7-6(6). Jung, a University of Michigan alum, saved six-of-seven break points in a match that went two hours and 21 minutes.
 
It was a matchup of former top college talents when Christopher Eubanks beat J.J. Wolf, 6-7(5), 6-2, 6-4. Eubanks, a former two-time All-American at Georgia Tech, dropped the first set in a tie-breaker but rallied to win the next two sets. It was the second career win for Eubanks over Wolf, a former Ohio State Buckeye.
 
Number one seed in qualifying Vasek Pospisil defeated Yasutaka Uchiyama in straight sets, 7-5, 6-3. Pospisil won 95 percent (39/41) of his first-serve points to just 67 percent (28/42) for Uchiyama, and the Canadian dominated serve, hitting 17 aces.
 
Caedrik-Marcel Stebe downed American Bjorn Fratangelo in three sets, 3-6, 6-2, 6-4. The 31-year-old German came back to oust the Pittsburgh native after dropping the opening set in a very close match.
 
Japan’s Yosuke Watanuki defeated American Ernesto Escobedo, 6-4, 6-7(5), 7-6(4). The win came by the thinnest of margins, as both the second and third set went into tiebreakers. Escobedo delivered 31 aces and won 88 percent of his first serves (56/64).
 
Thomas Fabbiano defeated Adam Neff, another SMU sophomore, in straight sets, 6-1, 6-4. Down 4-1 in the second set, Neff would break Fabbiano and cut the lead to one game at 5-4. The veteran Italian got the job done serving for the match and advancing into the second round of qualifying. The match lasted just one hour and one minute. 
 
The final match of the evening was one of the best, with Great Britain’s Liam Broady outlasting Denis Istomin in three sets, 5-7, 7-6(6), 7-6(9). Neither player wanted to yield, as the match lasted two hours and fifty-one minutes.

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