It’s been a tough season for Tim Smyczek. The American started 2016 ranked No.140 but has seen his ranking slip outside the Top 200 for the first time since 2012 as a result of struggles on the tour of late.
Smyczek has gone some way to putting those struggles behind him though by scoring an impressive win over 16th seed Quentin Halys in US Open Qualifying. The American broke twice in a 7-6, 6-4 win.
Smyczek will play compatriot Raymond Sarmiento after he defeated Frenchman Benjamin Bonzi 6-3, 6-2. The 25 year-old is playing in US Open Qualifying for the first time and the win will likely help him move to a career high ranking somewhere just inside the Top 300.
In other matches Darian King picked up a welcome win, defeating Daniel Nguyen 6-2, 6-1. King has struggled for form of late, with his ranking dropping to No.168. King will soon have to defend 100 ATP points as he is the defending champion of the upcoming Tiburon Challenger.
Ramkumar Ramanathan has ended Paul-Henri Mathieu’s Grand Slam career. The Frenchman is due to retire at the end of the season, with this US Open set to be his last Slam tournament. Ramanathan won 6-4, 6-4. Mitchell Krueger edged Canada’s Brayden Schnur for a place in the second round of qualifying. 12th seed Filip Krajinovic followed Krueger’s example by coming from behind to defeat Lukas Rosol 5-7, 6-4, 6-2.
17th seed Egor Gerasimov had a comfortable match to reach the second round. He defeated the more clay-minded Argentine Federico Coria 6-3, 6-4. 14th seed Nicolas Mahut did well to negotiate a potential shock against Soon Woo Kwon. The veteran Frenchman won 6-3, 6-4. 31st seeded American Michael Mmoh failed to make much of his wildcard last year. He started his qualifying event this year well with a 6-3, 6-2 win over former Top 100 Dutchman Igor Sijsling.
John-Patrick Smith defeated a wildcard American entrant Jeffrey John Wolf 6-4, 6-1. 15th seed Lukas Lacko, 20th seed Nicolas Jarry, and 21st seed Peter Polansky were all also straight set winners. Matteo Berrettini, playing his first Grand Slam qualifying event as a seed, also won by defeating Marcelo Arevalo 6-2, 7-6. Greek talent Stefanos Tsitsipas shrugged off the loss of the first set to drop just two more games against Di Wu, winning 4-6, 6-1, 6-1.
