Pictures From the Men's Action - 2011 USTA Australian Open Wildcard Playoffs: Day 1

Friday’s Quarterfinal Scores

MEN

No. 8 Rhyne Williams ( Knoxville , Tenn. ) def. No. 1 Bobby Reynolds ( Acworth , Ga. ), 4-6, 6-4, 10-8

No. 2 Jesse Levine ( Boca Raton , Fla. ) def. No. 7 Daniel Kosakowski ( Downey , Calif. ), 6-2, 6-4

No. 3 Denis Kudla ( Arlington , Va. ) def. No. 6 Jack Sock ( Lincoln , Neb. ), 3-6, 7-6 (4), 5-4, ret.

No. 4 Robby Ginepri ( Kennesaw , Ga. ) def. No. 5 Steve Johnson ( Orange , Calif. ), 7-6 (4), 6-0

Denis KudlaJack SockBobby ReynoldsRhyne Williams

Highlights of the U.S Open Men's Qualifying Draw

128 will be on hand, looking for 16 spots in the U.S. Open main draw for qualifiers.  This is a huge deal and the draw is loaded with players capable of pulling an upset.  They are playing for prize money, but the real prize is making it to the main draw next week.

Let's look at some of the contenders and matches that stand out.

Joao Souza of Brazil is the top seed.  He looks like he might have the easiest path, he could face one of the hardest working players in tennis along the way, Roman Borvanov.

The #1 player in the Dominican Republic is in the draw.  That would be Victor Estrella, he makes his living playing mostly Futures events around the Caribbean.

Marsel Ihlan of Turkey might be the best player in the draw.  He is the #3 seed, and he played well in qualifying for Cincinnati.

Joao Sousa of Portugal is also in the field.  Do not confuse him with Joao Souza, who I mentioned earlier.

Americans are littered throughout the draw.  They include, Alex Kuznetsov, Daniel Kosakowski, Tim Smyczek of Milwaukee, and Rhyne Williams, a Tennessee Volunteer who plays veteran, Rik   De Voest.

Believe it or not, Wayne Odesnik is the #19 seed, and he stands a pretty good chance of qualifying.

Keep an eye on young American players like Mitchell Frank, Denis Kudla, Bjorn Frantangelo and Blake Strode, who again won the National Playoff competition this year.

One match to make a note of is an All-American matchup of Bradley Klahn taking on Tennys Sandgren, and yes, that is his real name.

Nice to see Jesse Witten in the draw, as his retirement draws near.  Also, I'll be interested to see who prevails in the James Ward vs. Michael Yani match.

Qualifying for the U.S. Open is free to the public and makes for some interesting tennis.

Marsel Ilhan is the #3 seed in qualifying

Atlanta Tennis Championships Qualifying Saturday Order of Play

Qualifying play begins at 10 a.m. sharp today (Saturday) at the Racquet Club of the South in Norcross, GA for the 2011 Atlanta Tennis Championships.

Notable names in action today include young American Denis Kudla, former top-10 player Nicolas Massu and college players from the University of Georgia and Georgia Tech.

ORDER OF PLAY – SATURDAY, JULY 16, 2011
CENTER COURT start 10:00 am
Qualifying – [WC] W Spencer (USA) vs N Lindahl (AUS)
Qualifying – N Massu (CHI) vs [WC] K King (USA)
Qualifying – C Fleming (GBR) vs D Kudla (USA)
Qualifying – J Anton (USA) vs [WC] M Spyslinger (USA)
COURT 1 start 10:00 am
Qualifying – H Lewis (BAR) vs [WC] D Bernstein (USA)
Qualifying – [WC] G Gomez (ESP vs P Simmonds (USA)
Qualifying – [WC] G Townes (USA) vs E Graves (USA)
COURT 2 start 10:00 am
Qualifying – O Sajous (HAI) vs A Krywacz (BRA)
Qualifying – K Lejnieks (LAT) vs D Kosakowski (USA)
Qualifying – A Smith (USA) vs N Schnugg (USA)

USTA Australian Open Wildcard Playoffs: Day 2 Men

Jack Sock drives a forehand

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The future of American men's tennis will be on display Sunday afternoon in Atlanta, and if you have a ticket, you are getting an early Christmas present.

Ryan Harrison and Jack Sock will be looking to earn a spot "Down Under", but with the tennis they have played this weekend, their stock is rising up and up.

Harrison, from Cortez, FL played his second collegiate opponent in as many days, and he edged out a .4-6, 6-2, 9-7 win over University of Tennessee sophomore Rhyne Williams. No tie-breaker is used in this single-elimination tournament, and Harrision wasn't concerned, "The U.S. Open is the only Slam that uses the tie-breaker to decide a match so I’m used to it. I had a couple of matches at the French Open that were long and had the chance to go the distance but I’ve actually never had to do it in the pros. But you want to prepare yourself anyway."

Sock, from Lincoln , Neb. , rolled his ankle up 3-2 in the second set against Denis Kudla of Arlington , Va. , and had to call a medical timeout, but was able to pull through. He started strong and closed out his rival Kudla 6-2, 7-5.

Following his win, Sock already had his sights set on Harrison, "Ryan’s a very good player and I just have to play my ‘A’ game. I’m going to have to play well to win the match." Sock had possibly his biggest win the round before defeating top-seeded Donald Young in three tough sets. Kudla congratulated Sock on the match win, "I thought I played horrible at the start of the match. But after his injury (at 3-2 down in the second set) I just kept thinking I could be the luckiest man alive because I should have easily been losing the way I was playing. But he dealt with the adversity well on his service games and I just didn’t do enough. He dealt with the pain fine."

Should be a "Super Sunday" of tennis tomorrow in Atlanta. The women's final will be followed by the men's finals. A trip to the Australian Open is at stake to the winner, but so far the big winner is American tennis.