Top seed Ryan Harrison breezes to first-round win in Dallas pro tennis

Top seed Ryan Harrison got off to a fast start at the RBC Tennis Championships of Dallas on Monday with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over fellow American Eric Quigley on the indoor courts at T Bar M Racquet Club.

The No. 78-ranked Harrison, of Austin, converted five of 13 break chances and won 80 percent of his first-serve points to beat Quigley, who was in the field as a wild card.

The day was a little tougher for No. 8 seed Tim Smyczek, who lost to Elias Ymer of Sweden 7-6 (6), 6-4. Also making an early exit was the top-seeded doubles team of American Rajeev Ram and Julio Peralta of Chile, who lost in the first round to Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan of India and Christopher Rugkat of Indonesia 6-3, 6-4.

Tuesday’s first-round action will feature some rising stars of American tennis. Nineteen-year-old Frances Tiafoe takes on qualifier Christian Harrison, the younger brother of Ryan Harrison, in the second match of the day on the stadium court, and 19-year-old No. 2 seed Taylor Fritz plays Ze Zhang of China in the night cap.

Monday’s Results

MEN’S

FIRST-ROUND SINGLES

Ryan Harrison, U.S., d. Eric Quigley, U.S., 6-3, 6-4; Marco Trungelliti, Argentina, d. Chase Wood, U.S., 6-2, 7-6 (4); Elias Ymer, Sweden, d. Tim Smyczek, U.S. (8), 7-6 (6), 6-3; Denis Kudla, U.S., (6) d. James McGee, Ireland, 6-3, 4-6, 6-1; Marcos Giron, U.S., d. Brian Baker, 7-6 (5), 6-4; MacKenzie McDonald, U.S., d. Zhe Li, China, 6-4, 6-3.

SINGLES QUALIFYING

Raymond Sarmiento, U.S. (1), d. Eric Johnson 6-3, 6-1; Christian Harrison, U.S., (6) d. Lucas Renard, Sweden, 6-4, 3-6, 7-5; Alexandro Gomez d. Luke Bambridge, Great Britain, 4-6, 6-2, 6-4; Denys Molchanov, Ukraine, d. Nathaniel Lammons, U.S., 6-4, 3-6, 7-5.

FIRST-ROUND DOUBLES

Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan, India, and Christopher Rugkat, Indonesia, d. Julio Peralta, Chile, and Rajeev Ram, U.S. (1), 6-3, 6-4; Luke Bambridge, Great Britain, and Sekou Bangoura, U.S., vs. Ian Dempster and Shane Vinsant, U.S., 7-6 (0, 7-6 (5).

DOUBLES QUALIFYING

David O’Hare, Ireland and Joe Salisbury, Great Britain d. Zhe Li, China and Di Wu, China, 6-4, 7-6 (1).

TUESDAY’S SCHEDULE

Starting at 10:30 a.m.

Stadium Court: Reilly Opelka, U.S. vs. Salvatore Caruso, Italy; followed by Christian Harrison, U.S. vs. Frances Tiafoe, U.S. (4); Rajeev Ram, U.S. (7) vs. Kimmer Coppejans, Belgium; Raymond Sarmiento, U.S. vs. Benjamin Becker, Germany (5). Not before 5 p.m.: MacKenzie McDonald, U.S. and Max Schnur, U.S. vs. Denis Kudla, U.S. and James McGee, Ireland; Not before 7 p.m., Hans Hach Verdugo, Mexico and Tatsuma Ito, Japan vs. Ryan Harrison, U.S. and Frances Tiafoe, U.S.; followed by Ze Zhang, China vs. Taylor Fritz, U.S. (2).

Court 1: Sekou Bangoura, U.S. vs. Denys Molchanov, Ukraine; followed by Tatsuma Ito, Japan vs. Alejandro Gomez, Colombia; Mikhail Kukushkin, Kazakhstan vs. Dennis Novikov, U.S.; Nikola Milojevic, Serbia vs. Austin Krajicek, U.S.; Di Wu, China vs. Tennys Sandgren, U.S.

This story was originally published January 30, 2017 at 11:28 PM with the headline "Top seed Ryan Harrison breezes to first-round win in Dallas pro tennis."