Ryan Harrison is really in form these days. The American was under heavy pressure as a youngster, with many touting him as the next big hope of American tennis. He struggled with that moniker, but now seems comfortable with his place in tennis. He is the top seed in Dallas, and eased past wildcard Eric Quigley 63 64.
There was no such joy for eighth seed Tim Smyczek, as last year’s semi-finalist fell in straight sets to Elias Ymer 76 63. Smyczek’s ranking will continue to slide as he has failed to defend those points. He had fallen to a five year ranking low after the Australian Open.
American Wildcard Mackenzie McDonald will face Ryan Harrison in the second round after he defeated Zhe Li in straight sets, 64 63. McDonald won the NCAA titles in 2016 in both singles and doubles, and already has career wins over the likes of Nicolas Mahut and Steve Johnson.
Marco Trungelliti defeated wildcard Chase Wood 62 76. Trungelliti, who was seeded at these kind of events this time last year. He is not quite in the same form, but had enough to take out the eighteen year old Wood.
Denis Kudla continued an ongoing theme in his matches this year. Kudla was made to fight hard with James McGee 63 46 61. Kudla has been forced through a number of tough three-set matches so far this year, though he has won more of them than he has lost this year.
Finally, Marcos Giron defeated the out-of-form Brian Baker 76 64. Giron is a former NCAA winner but has struggled in his pro career. He got a good win over former Nice finalist Baker though. Baker is severely out-of-form, and the injury-prone American may not be fully fit after he also lost in the first round of Australian Open qualifying.
Mikhail Kukushkin is the player who could stand to benefit the most from Smyczek’s early exit. The Kazakhstani is in first round action against Dennis Novikov on Tuesday evening.
The Dallas Challenger is worth one hundred ATP points, and both of last year’s finalists, winner Kyle Edmund and runner-up Dan Evans, do not feature this year.
