Top seed Frances Tiafoe moved into the quarter-finals of the San Francisco Challenger, but he was made to work very hard for it against Ryan Shane. The former NCAA champion took Tiafoe to three sets before the top seed eventually emerged the winner 76 67 62.
Things were easier for Michael Mmoh, who defeated third seed Mikhail Kukushkin in straight sets, 63 63. The win for Mmoh means that a place in the final for an American from the top half of the draw is all but assured. The only opportunity remaining for a non-American in that section is seventh seed Vasek Pospisil, who has a tough second match with Reilly Opelka to come.
Denis Kudla will face Mmoh in the quarter-finals, as he defeated Mackenzie McDonald in three close sets. Kudla ran out the winner 76 46 62.
There was also two holdout fixtures from the first round, as Ramkumar Ramanathan and Marcos Giron, both wildcards, faced off. It was Ramanathan who overcame a poor first set to edge the next two, eventually winning 26 64 64.
In the final first round match in San Francisco the in-form Tatusma Ito won against Darian King 76 62. Ito was a semi-finalist in Dallas last week and will have a good chance of at least making the quarter-finals in San Francisco.
Thursday will see the botttom half of the draw play the second round, as well as the final match from the top half involving Reilly Opelka and seventh seed Vasek Pospisil. Pospisil played three tough rubbers in the Davis Cup over the weekend so the tournament directors opted to schedule the Canadian’s matches a day later than the rest of the top half to afford him a little more rest.
