Delray Beach Open Continues With Top Action on Wednesday

1) Young Guns

There are two young players in the draw who each reached their first Grand Slam fourth round last month at the Australian Open and made a splash at December’s ATP Next Gen Finals, and they happen to be close friends. Third seed Alex Michelsen, 20, upset the 12th-ranked player in Australia, reached the Next Gen semifinals and has reached two ATP finals. Wild card Learner Tien, 19, upset the fifth-ranked player in Australia and defeated Michelsen in the semifinals at the Next Gen Finals. Both Californians, they’ve grown up in tennis together and support each other. Michelsen was seen watching Tien’s doubles match with Ethan Quinn on Tuesday.

2) DBO Champions Everywhere

Several former Delray Beach Open champions will be in action on Wednesday. The 2022 singles titlist Cameron Norrie and doubles champions Robert Galloway (2024), Ariel Behar (2021) and Jackson Withrow (2018) will all be on court. Past singles finalists Miomir Kecmanovic (2023) and Yoshihito Nishioka (2020) face off against each other.

3) NCAA Champs in Delray Beach

Wednesday’s matches also will feature two NCAA singles champions and an NCAA doubles winner. Fifth seed Marcus Giron, who won the 2014 singles title for UCLA, faces 2023 champion for Georgia Ethan Quinn, a lucky loser into the main draw who is looking for his fifth ATP Tour match win. The 2021 doubles champion from Tennessee, Adam Walton, teams up with former North Carolina Tar Heel Rinky Hijikata after his singles match.

4) Record for Number of Americans in Second Round (Still) on the Line

It’s still possible to tie the record for most Americans in the second round with 9, equaling the record set in three previous years. Eight are already there. The last first-round match is played on Wednesday featuring American wild card Learner Tien against Australian Adam Walton.

SCHEDULE: WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 12

Day Session

Start 11:00 AM

STADIUM

George Goldhoff (USA) / Trey Hilderbrand (USA) vs [2] Ariel Behar (Uruguay) / Robert Galloway (USA)

Not Before 1:00 PM

[7] Miomir Kecmanovic (Serbia) vs Yoshihito Nishioka (Japan)

Not Before 2:30 PM

[9] Arthur Rinderknech (France) vs Cameron Norrie (Great Britain)

COURT 1

[WC] Learner Tien (USA) vs Adam Walton (Australia)

followed by

Fernando Romboli (Brazil) / Marcelo Zormann (Brazil) vs Nicolas Barrientos (Colombia) / Rithvik Choudary Bollipalli (India)

followed by

James Duckworth (Australia) / Alexander Shevchenko (Kazakhstan) vs Christian Harrison (USA) / Evan King (USA)

followed by

[1] Jackson Withrow (USA) / Horacio Zeballos (Argentina) vs Rinky Hijikata (Australia) / Adam Walton (Australia)

Night Session

STADIUM

Not Before 6:00 PM

[LL] Ethan Quinn (USA) vs [5] Marcos Giron (USA)

Not Before 8:00 PM

[Q] Michael Mmoh (USA) vs [3] Alex Michelsen (USA)

RESULTS: TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 11

Singles First Round

[8] Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (Spain) def. [LL] Taro Daniel (Japan) 6-2, 7-6(2)

[9] Arthur Rinderknech (France) def. Dmitry Popko (Kazakhstan) 6-2, 6-4

Yoshihito Nishioka (Japan) def. Aleksandar Vukic (Australia) 6-3, 6-4

Yunchaokete Bu (China) def. Rinky Hijikata (Australia) 6-2, 6-0

[WC] Mackenzie McDonald (USA) def. Kei Nishikori (Japan) 7-6(4), 4-6, 7-5

[WC] Reilly Opelka (USA) def. Christopher Eubanks (USA) 6-3, 7-6(7)

Doubles First Round

Robert Cash (USA) / JJ Tracy (USA) def. [3] Santiago Gonzalez (Mexico) / Lucas Miedler (Austria) 6-4, 7-6(4)

[4] N.Sriram Balaji (India) / Miguel Reyes-Varela (Mexico) def. [WC] Ethan Quinn (USA) / Learner Tien (USA) 3-6, 6-2, 10-4

Miomir Kecmanovic (Serbia) / Brandon Nakashima (USA) def. [WC] Tristan Boyer (USA) / Tennyson Whiting (USA) 6-1, 6-3