The 2016 version of the Charlottesville Challenger will not be as happy an occasion as the 2015 event for Noah Rubin and Tommy Paul, as both defending champion and finalist from 2015 were unceremoniously beaten in the first round.
Both went out with a whimper. Winning just eight games collectively across their two matches. Rubin, who had beaten Paul in the final a year ago in a three-set classic comeback, won just five games as he lost to Canadian seventh seed Peter Polansky 6-3, 6-2. Rubin missed a large chunk of the summer due to an ankle injury and therefore had not attained a ranking high enough to be seeded for this event.
Paul fared even worse against fourth seed Denis Kudla, going down 6-1, 6-2 in under an hour. Paul failed to win even half his service points across the match.
There was better news for some of their fellow Americans though. Third seed Bjorn Fratangelo eased past Joris de Loore, 7-6, 6-2 for his defeat to the same player in the Stockton event last month. Brian Baker, a former ATP finalist in Nice, emerged comfortably from a potentially tricky encounter with Tim Van Rijthoven 6-4, 6-2.
Michael Mmoh defeated the badly out-of-form eighth seed Dennis Novikov 6-3 6-2. Novikov, who has only won back-to-back matches once in his last three events, offered little opposition to the teenager’s consistency and succumbed rather quickly.
Mmoh will play the 6’11 Reilly Opelka after he won a three-set battle with Sekou Bangoura on Monday. The match is crucially important for both players because as things stand neither are likely to gain direct entry into the 2017 Australian Open Qualifying event with their present rankings. The opportunity for one of them to reach at least the quarter-finals of this event would be a significant boost to their chances.
Jared Donaldson’s opponent will be Briton Liam Broady, after he edged surprise qualifier JC Aragone 6-1, 3-6 6-3. Donaldson had won his equally difficult encounter with wildcard Alexander Ritschard 6-2, 3-6, 6-3.
Swiss sixth seed Henri Laaksonen had no trouble winning in straight sets 7-6, 6-3 against qualifier Yuki Bhambri.
Top seed Frances Tiafoe and Tim Smyczek feature in the late matches in Charlottesville.
