Americans Johnson, Kudla Advance at Atlanta Open
Sixth-seed Steve Johnson advanced to the BB&T Atlanta Open Round of 16 on Tuesday, downing Slovakian Lukas Lacko 6-1, 6-7(3), 6-2.
Johnson cruised in the opening set, breaking twice to win the first set in just 21 minutes. Lacko’s serve picked up in the second, holding in all of his service games to force the frame into a tie-breaker. He won the last four points of the breaker to force the match into a deciding third set.
In the third, Johnson broke at 3-2 to give himself the break advantage and a 4-2 lead. He would win the final two games to seal the deal and advance.
Johnson will play the winner of fellow American Tim Smyczek and Lithuania’s Ricardas Berankis.
American Denis Kudla came back from a set down to beat compatriot Ryan Harrison 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(5). In the third set tie-break, Kudla nailed down a mini-break to go up 6-5, and finished it off on the next point to reach the Round of 16.
Kudla draws another American in the next stage, third-seeded Jack Sock.
On one of the first stops of his retirement tour, former top 10 American Mardy Fish saw his Atlanta Open run come to an end on Tuesday as Israel’s Dudi Sela beat Fish in straight sets 6-4, 6-4. Sela converted on three of his break point chances to move past Fish.
“The conditions were tough, but I’ve played on that court before so it wasn’t that big of a deal,” said Fish. “It felt like a good matchup and I felt like I could win, even though I didn’t play a lot this year.”
Sela will play eighth-seeded German Benjamin Becker next. Becker won the first set 7-5 in his opening match before his compatriot Michael Berrer was forced to retire.
Jared Donaldson hung on to beat India’s Somdev Devvarman 6-1, 3-6, 6-4 and will next play Luxembourg’s Gilles Muller next.
