Lipsky Advances to Doubles Semis in Newport
In Thursday action at the Campbell’s Hall of Fame Tennis Championships in Newport, R.I., Merrick, N.Y.’s Scott Lipsky and doubles partner Santiago Gonzalez of Mexico, the third-seeded doubles pairing, were 7-6(6), 6-7(3), 10-7 winners over the team of Russian Alex Bogomolov Jr. & Gilles Mueller of Luxembourg. With the win, Lipsky & Gonzalez advance to the semifinals on Friday where they will face the team of Izak Van Der Merwe of South Africa & Raven Klaasen also of South Africa.
In seingles action, the first two semifinal spots were filled by Australian Lleyton Hewitt and Newport’s 2009 singles and doubles champion, Rajeev Ram. Hewitt defeated Israel’s Dudi Sela in straight sets to make his first ATP World Tour semifinal since June 2010, when he won the Gerry Weber Open in Halle. Ram upset number two-seeded Kei Nishikori of Japan.
In the final quarterfinal matches of the tournament, Ryan Harrison advanced to his second Newport quarterfinal (also in 2010), by defeating fellow American Jesse Levine. This is Harrison’s fourth quarterfinal of the season.
In the semifinals, Harrison will face German qualifier Benjamin Becker, who upset the number three seed and world 23rd-ranked Milos Raonic, 6-3, 6-3.
"If you qualify you have three good matches under your belt," said Becker. "You know the courts, which is a little bit of an advantage."
On Friday, all matches will be played on Center Court. There will be two singles matches, including a meeting of number one seed John Isner and qualifier Izak Van Der Merwe. Three doubles matches will be played, including a meeting of the Japanese Olympic team of Kei Nishikori & Go Soeda versus the British Olympic team of Colin Fleming & Ross Hutchins.
Results—Thursday, July 12, 2012
Singles-Quarterfinals
â–ºR. Ram (USA) defeated [2] K. Nishikori (JPN) 7-6(6), 6-3
â–º[WC] L. Hewitt (AUS) defeated D. Sela (ISR) 6-4, 6-3
Second Round
â–º[Q] B. Becker (GER) defeated [3] M. Raonic (CAN) 6-3, 6-3
â–º[6] [WC] R. Harrison (USA) defeated J. Levine (USA) 6-3, 6-4
Doubles-Quarterfinals
â–º[3] S. Gonzalez (MEX) & S. Lipsky (USA) defeated A. Bogomolov Jr. (RUS) & G. Muller (LUX) 7-6(6), 6-7(3), 10-7
â–º[Alt] R. Klaasen (RSA) & I. Van der Merwe (RSA) defeated J. Fruttero (USA) & D. Istomin (UZB) 6-3, 6-2
Order of Play—Friday, July 13, 2012
Center Court-11:00 a.m. EST
â–ºT. Huey (PHI) & D. Inglot (GBR) vs. [WC] C. Guccione (AUS) & L. Hewitt (AUS)
â–º[1] J. Isner (USA) vs. [Q] I. Van der Merwe (RSA)
â–º[Q] B. Becker (GER) vs. [6] [WC] R. Harrison (USA)
â–ºK. Nishikori (JPN) & G. Soeda (JPN) vs. [2] C. Fleming (GBR) & R. Hutchins (GBR)
â–º[Alt] R. Klaasen (RSA) & I. Van der Merwe (RSA) vs. [3] S. Gonzalez (MEX) & S. Lipsky (USA)
