The 2015 United States Tennis Association (USTA) Nielsen Pro Tennis Championship is in its third day with the Men’s singles quarterfinals. All matches have been held at the A.C. Nielsen Tennis Center, 530 Hibbard Rd., Winnetka, Illinois 60093.
2015 Nielsen Men’s Pro Tennis Championship: Quarter Finals Results
The underdogs have generally ruled the tournament so far. The first two seeds have already been eliminated. In the seed two bracket, there are no seeded players left. In the seed one bracket, three of the four players are seeded.
Quarter Finals Results:
Somdev Devvarman (7) defeated Nicolas Meister (Qualifier) 7-6(4), 4-6, 6-2
The first match up was Somdev Devvarman against Nicolas Meister. Devvarman is 30 years old and turned pro in 2008. He is currently ranked 173rd in the world and has a career high 96. While he is from India, Devvarman lives and trains in Austin, Texas. Meister is 26 years old and is ranked 472 in the world. In February 2015, Meister had a career high ranking of 302. Meister attended UCLA.
Meister outplayed Devvarman in the first set with Meister making 72% of his first serves. However, the set was extremely close and there were no service breaks. Devvarman was able to win the tie breaker and take the first set 7-6 (4). This proved to be a lost chance for Meister to win the match.
Meister improved in the second set and was able to break Devvarman. While his first serves percentage dropped to 63%, Meister won 89% of second serve points. Mister held on to win the second set 6-4.
Devvarman figured out how to return Meister’s serve in the third set. While still getting 60% of his first serves in, Meister was only able to win 50% of first and second serve points. Devvarman broke Meister twice and Devvarman easily won the third set and the match 6-2.
Ryan Harrison (5) defeated Blaz Kavcic (3) 7-6(3), 6-7(6), 6-1
Blaz Kavcic is 28 years old from Slovenia and turned pro in 2005. He is currently ranked 107th in the world and has a career high of 68. Ryan Harrison is 23 years old from Austin, Texas. He turned pro in 2007 and is currently ranked 129th in the world. Harrison’s career high ranking is 43rd. Harrison has been touted as the next big star in American tennis, but has not been able to break through in Grand Slam matches.
Harrison was able to win the first set in a tie breaker 7-6(3). Harrison served 4 aces and won 77% of points when he made his first serve. That percentage dropped to 53% on second serves.
Kavcic returned the favor in the second set and won on a tie breaker 7-6(6). Statistically neither player had an advantage. Harrison was able to only win two points with aces.
Kavcic appeared tired in the third set as Harrison cruised to a 6-1 victory. Kavcic’s first serve percentage dropped to 45%. In addition, Harrison feasted on Kavcic’s second serves winning 64% of the points against Kavcic.
Adrien Bossel (Qualifier) defeated Jared Hiltzik (WC) 6-3, 5-7, 6-4
Adrien Bossel is 28 years old Swiss tennis player. Bossel is currently ranked 311th in the world and his career high ranking is 310. Jared Hiltzik is a 21 year old who is ranked 1067 in the world. Hiltzik is currently attending college at the University of Illinois. He graduated from the local high school New Trier where the tournament is located in Winnetka, Illinois.
Bossel won the first set easily 6-3. However, the difference came down to experience as Hiltzik has 3 aces to Bossel’s 1, but Hiltzik had more double faults. In addition, Bossel won many of his points on Hiltzik’s second serves.
Hiltzik was able to win the second set 7-5. Hiltzik’s serve improved in the second set as he had 7 aces. Hiltzik took advantage of Bossel’s poor first serve percentage and won 60% of the points on Bossel’s second serve.
Bossel closed out the third set and match winning 6-4. Bossel was able to break Hiltzik and win 70% of the points on Hiltzik’s second serves. That was just enough to beat the young and inexperienced Hiltzik.
Daniel Nguyen (Qualifier) defeated Mitchell Krueger (Qualifier) 6-4, 6-4.
Daniel Nguyen is 24 years old and currently ranked 229th in the world (also his career high ranking). He is the first Vietnamese American to play in the U.S. Open tennis tournament and is a graduate of the University of Southern California. Mitchell Krueger is a 21 year old currently ranked 338 in the world. His career high rank is 283.
Nguyen was able to win both sets 6-4 and win the match. Nguyen had a 60% first serve percentage compared to Krueger’s 50%. Nguyen also won 50% of the second serves by Krueger.
