SARASOTA, April 14, 2016
Henri Laaksonen from Switzerland could have won it in the second set with either of his match points, but instead it took a third set for the 24-year old to knock out the tournament’s number two seed, Diego Schwartzman from Argentina on Wednesday at the White Sands Realty Group $100,000 Sarasota Open.
The 24-year-old Swiss sealed a 6-4, 6-7, 6-4 victory in two hours and 24 minutes. Schwartzmen broke three racquets after losing points, including after losing the match.
New York City’s Noah Rubin had little trouble in the first set, but had to struggle to win the second over Gonzalo Lama from Chile, 6-0, 7-6 in one hour and 19 minutes.
Mischa Zverev benefitted from the retirement of the tournament’s number seven Facundo Arguello, as the Argentine stopped his match due to fatigue with the German leading 5-7, 6-4, 3-1 after two hours and 31 minutes.
Guilherme Clezar advanced to the quarterfinals, winning 7-6, 6-1 over Nicolas Kicker 7-6, 6-1 in one hour and 25 minutes.
One doubles match that drew attention involved local player and University of Florida graduate Sekou Bangoura and fellow-US-American Connor Smith. They came back from being down in the 3rd set tie-breaker to beat the Austrian-British-combination Gerald Melzer and James Ward.
Another US-American team didn’t fare as well. Facundo Arguello and Nicolas Kicker beat Bjorn Fratangelo and Tommy Paul, 6-7 (4), 6-2, 10-1.
Fratangalo took over the ATP Challenger twitter-account during the day:
@ATPChallenger @BjornFratangelo on the road who would you rather share a room with @TommyPaul1 or @FTiafoe
— Geoff Russell (@coachgruss) 13. April 2016
I like a clean room… may have to go with tommy on this one #askbjorn https://t.co/88SfyuCzAk
— ATP Challenger Tour (@ATPChallenger) 13. April 2016
I always wanted to play like agassi https://t.co/jThylz8GVg
— ATP Challenger Tour (@ATPChallenger) 13. April 2016
I always wanted to play like agassi https://t.co/jThylz8GVg
— ATP Challenger Tour (@ATPChallenger) 13. April 2016
@ATPChallenger @BjornFratangelo @TommyPaul1 boxers or briefs? To both. #askbjorn
— Matthew! (@MRisingStar18) 13. April 2016
depends on the day #askbjorn https://t.co/0ilaD6D6DK
— ATP Challenger Tour (@ATPChallenger) 13. April 2016
@ATPChallenger @BjornFratangelo @SarasotaOpen Would u rather give up chips forever or never be able to go on social media ever again
— Ronit Yurovsky (@royurovsky) 13. April 2016
I’d give up social media right now.. #askbjorn https://t.co/VCmX8djCVV
— ATP Challenger Tour (@ATPChallenger) 13. April 2016
