HOUSTON—After two days of main-draw play, the draws of the U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championship look a little strange.
In singles, every first-round match has been completed—except one: Roman Burruchaga vs. Adam Walton. That will be rectified at noon Wednesday, on Court 3.
In doubles, Ben Shelton and Andres Andrade have already won twice to reach the semifinals…before the top-seeded team of Orlando Luz and Rafael Matos has even played their first match.
Chalk that up to the tournament getting Shelton on the court as early as possible this week, in order to avoid colliding with his singles play. We’ll see how long that can last.
As for the results themselves, there hasn’t been much out of the ordinary. Defending champion Jenson Brooksby is out, but the other singles seeds avoided opening-round exits. On Tuesday, No. 5 Brandon Nakashima defeated Martin Damm, No. 6 Tomas Martin Etcheverry ousted compatriot Federico Agustin Gomez, and No. 7 Alex Michelsen took out Coleman Wong.
Etcheverry won the last 10 points to seal a grinding three-set victory, while Michelsen was never in danger against Wong. At last year’s US Open, Wong became the first player from Hong Kong to win a Grand Slam main-draw match, then did one better, winning another. But it was Michelsen who prevailed in this battle of 21-year-olds, 6-4, 6-2.
Give Wong this, however: he pulled off one of the greatest service returns I’ve ever seen. Trailing by a set and a break, Wong returned a serve with so much spin that it bounced and landed back on his side of the net. Return ace.
Michelsen could do nothing more than come to net and congratulate Wong, before he eventually made Wong return the favor.