BINGHAMTON, July 18, 2016
Eight players, including seven qualifying seeds, advanced in the singles qualifying draw Sunday at the 23rd Levene Gouldin & Thompson Tennis Challenger at Binghamton’s Recreation Park. Four US-Americans won, including Evan King and Eric Quigley, who both needed three sets to move on to Monday’s final round of qualifying.
The top seed in the qualifying bracket, King, had to rally past Tim Kopinski in a three-set victory Sunday. Kopinski took the opener, 7-6 (3), but King fought back, winning 6-4 and 6-1 to take the contest. King was stellar in the third frame, winning 12-15 first-serve points.
Quigley put together two strong sets, in the first and third, to take care of Damon Gooch, 6-2, 4-6, 6-2, in their contest. Quigley quickly broke Gooch’s serve in both odd-numbered frames, taking control and eventually advancing to Monday.
In the lone upset of the day, Aleksandar Vukic handled seventh-seed Clay Thompson, 6-4 and 6-4, as Vukic was able to break Thompson’s serve in both sets. Vukic became the only player to win on each of the first two days of this year’s tournament.
Crepaldi bounced back from an opening 6-1 loss to Ryan Haviland in the first set. Crepaldi, a native of Italy, pulled out a 7-6 (6) tiebreaker in the second, extending the match. He then closed out Haviland, 6-4, in the third, breaking his foe’s serve late in the set.
Cameron Norrie, the six seed, outlasted Greg Jones in a tight, two-set contest. Norrie won both frames in tiebreaker fashion, taking 7-4 and 7-3 decisions to claim the win.
Third-seeded Finn Tearney won, 6-3 and 7-6 (2), over Raleigh Smith in their qualifying bout. US-American Peter Kobelt defeated Juan Benitez, 6-2, 7-6 (6). Kobelt served 11 aces and won 90 percent of his first serve points. Jose Statham took down Winston Lin by scores of 6-1 and 6-4. Statham controlled return points, winning 48 percent in the contest.
In qualifying doubles action, Damon Gooch and Hunter Callahan teamed up to defeat Keith Whittingham and Vusa Hove by scores of 6-3 and 6-1. Gooch and Callahan advanced to the doubles main draw later this week. In the first set, Gooch and Callahan broke their opponents’ third serve to gain the edge. The duo followed by breaking Whittingham and Hove’s first serve in the second set, propelling Gooch and Callahan to a 6-1 victory.
Sunday, July 17 – RESULTS
Singles – Qualifying Round Two
Peter Kobelt (2), United States def. Juan Benitez, Columbia, 6-2, 7-6 (6)
Jose Statham (8), New Zealand def. Winston Lin, United States, 6-1, 6-4
Evan King (1), United States def. Tim Kopinski, United States, 6-7 (3), 6-4, 6-1
Aleksandar Vukic, Australia def. Clay Thompson (7), United States, 6-4, 6-4
Finn Tearney (3), United States def. Raleigh Smith, United States, 6-3, 7-6 (2)
Cameron Norrie (6), Great Britain def. Greg Jones, Australia 7-6 (4), 7-6 (3)
Eric Quigley (4), United States def. Damon Gooch, South Africa, 6-2, 4-6, 6-2
Erik Crepaldi (5), Italy def. Ryan Haviland, United States, 6-1, 7-6 (6), 6-4
Doubles – Qualifying Round One
Hunter Callahan, United States, and Damon Gooch, South Africa def. Keith Whittingham, United States, and Vusa Hove, Zimbabwe, 6-3, 6-1
