Sock Pushes Through in Atlanta; Americans Ginepri and Smyczek Also Advance

American Jack Sock cruised into the second round at the BB&T Atlanta Open on Tuesday by defeating Colombian Alejandro Gonzalez 6-2, 6-4 in a little over an hour.

Sock has been on the rise in recent weeks and hopes to continue that run in Atlanta. He reached the semifinals of the Hall of Fame Championships before falling to eventual champion Lleyon Hewitt, and captured the doubles championship at Wimbledon before that.

The 21-year old from Lincoln, Nebraska says he has found a confidence in his game thanks to the championship run at Wimbledon that culminated in a doubles win over the Bryan brothers.

“At Wimbledon, Vasek [Pospisil] and I were in a lot of tough positions,” said Sock. “We were able to pull through them and get out there, and you have that in the back of your mind, and that sense of confidence that you can battle through a lot of things.”

Sock did not have to battle through much in his first-round bout with Gonzalez. He ripped nine aces while picking up points on 89 percent of his first serves, which forced the Colombian into a poor return match. In addition, Sock notched three break points to pull away from Gonzalez in the second and deciding set.

He now moves on to face Michael Venus in the next round. Venus, a New Zealand native, was able to move into the second round without even taking the court as he replaced Gael Monfils who withdrew from the tournament on Sunday.

Sock was not the only American to advance on Tuesday as Robby Ginepri and Tim Smyczek picked up victories of their own.

Ginepri defeated Ukrainian Sergiy Stakhovsky 7-6, 3-6, 6-0 in the only three-set match from Tuesday’s action. It was Ginepri’s first victory on the tour this season, and was forced to fight off eight of 11 break points in order to do so. Stakhovsky helped him out by double-faulting 11 times and not having a real effective serve.

Ranked as high as 15th back in 2005, Ginepri has struggled in recent years since reaching his peak ranking. Awaiting him next in Atlanta will be top-seeded American John Isner, the defending champion at this event.

Tim Smyczek knocked off fellow American Ryan Harrison 6-0, 6-2 to roll into the next round. Smyczek picked up five break points which allowed him to close out the match with his own serve, setting up a second-round clash with Marinko Matosevic of Australia.

While three Americans moved on in Atlanta on Tuesday, three Americans dropped their first-round bouts as well. In addition to Harrison’s loss, Rajeev Ram was defeated by Russian Denis Istomin and Nathan Pasha was eliminated by Slovakia’s Lukas Lacko.

The first-round is nearly complete as there is just one match still to be played. American Alex Kuznetsov will meet seventh-seeded Yen-Hsun Lu of the Chinese Taipei on Wednesday to wrap up first-round action.

There are four second-round matches on slate for Wednesday, headlined by Sock and fellow American Sam Querrey.