Dallas tennis tourney dazzled by trio of 19-year-old Americans

Young Americans Reilly Opelka, Frances Tiafoe and Taylor Fritz all turned in impressive performances in their opening matches Tuesday in the $125,000 RBC Tennis Championships of Dallas.

The three up-and-coming 19-year-olds advanced to the second round of the USTA Challenger tournament at T Bar M Racquet Club.

The No. 4-seeded Tiafoe, coming off his first Grand Slam-match victory in the first round of the Australian Open, won 25 of 30 first-serve points and converted 5 of 8 break-point opportunities in a 6-2, 6-1 victory over 22-year-old qualifier Christian Harrison, the younger brother of top seed Ryan Harrison.

Tiafoe, of Hyattsville, Md., came into the tournament with a career-high ranking of No. 97.

Opelka, a native of St. Joseph, Mich., who qualified for the main draw of the Australian Open two weeks ago, showed why on Tuesday. He ripped 15 aces, including 11 in the second set, in a 6-1, 6-3 victory over 24-year-old Italian Salvatore Caruso.

Fritz, the No. 2 seed from Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., who also qualified for the Australian Open field, overcame an early service break in both sets for a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Ze Zhang of China. Fritz is ranked No. 93 after reaching a career-high of No. 53 in August.

In other action, No. 5 seeded and former Baylor star Benjamin Becker of Germany lost to American qualifier Raymond Sarmiento of Los Angeles 7-5, 7-5, while former Texas A&M standout Austin Krajicek defeated Nikola Milosevic of Serbia, 6-1, 6-3.

No. 7 seed Rajeev Ram defeated Kimmer Coppejans of Belgium 6-3, 2-6, 6-2, and No. 6 seed Denis Kudla defeated James McGee of Ireland 6-3, 4-6, 6-1.

Tiafoe returned in the evening and joined Ryan Harrison for a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Hans Hach Verdugo of Mexico and Tatsuma Ito of Japan in first-round doubles action.

Tuesday’s results

MEN

FIRST-ROUND SINGLES

Reilly Opelka, U.S. d. Salvatore Caruso, Italy, 6-1, 6-3; Frances Tiafoe, U.S. (4) d. Christian Harrison, U.S. 6-2, 6-1; Rajeev Ram, U.S. (7) d. Kimmer Coppejans, Belgium, 6-3, 2-6, 6-2; Raymond Sarmiento, U.S. d. Benjamin Becker, Germany (5), 7-5, 7-5; Sekou Bangoura, U.S. d. Denys Molchanov, Ukraine, 5-7, 6-3, 7-5; Tatsuma Ito, Japan d. Alejandro Gomez, Colombia, 6-4, 6-4; Mikhail Kukushkin, Kazakhstan d. Dennis Novikov, U.S., 6-4, 6-2; Austin Krajicek, U.S. d. Nikola Milojevic, Serbia, 6-1, 6-3; Di Wu, China d. Tennys Sandgren, U.S., 7-6 (5), 6-3; Taylor Fritz, U.S. (2) d. Ze Zhang, China, 6-4, 6-3

FIRST-ROUND DOUBLES

MacKenzie McDonald, U.S. and Max Schnur, U.S. d.. Denis Kudla, U.S. and James McGee, Ireland, 6-4, 6-4; Ryan Harrison, U.S. and Frances Tiafoe, U.S. d. Hans Hach Verdugo, Mexico and Tatsuma Ito, Japan, 6-3, 6-4.

Wednesday’s schedule

Starting at 10:30 a.m.

Stadium Court: Sekou Bangoura, U.S. vs. Elias Ymer, Sweden; followed by Mikhail Kukushkin, Kazakhstan (3) vs. Satsuma Ito, Japan; Di Wu, China vs. Frances Tiafoe, U.S. (4); Ryan Harrison, U.S. (1) vs. MacKenzie McDonald, U.S. (wc). Not before 5 p.m.: Marcos Giron, U.S. vs. Taylor Fritz, U.S. (2); Not before 7 p.m.: Kimmer Coppejans, Belgium, and Mikhail Kukushkin, Kazakhstan vs. Brian Baker, U.S. and Nicholas Monroe, U.S. (2); followed by Rajeev Ram, U.S. (7) vs. Reilly Opelka, U.S.

Court 1: Marco Trungelliti, Argentina vs. Raymond Sarmiento, U.S. (q); followed by Denis Kudla, U.S. (6) vs. Austin Krajicek, U.S.; Not before 12:30 p.m.: Andre Begemann, Germany and Scott Lipsky, U.S. (3) vs. Denys Molchanov, Ukraine and Dennis Novikov, U.S.; followed by Austin Krajicek, U.S. and Jackson Withrow, U.S. (wc) vs. Marco Trungelliti, Argentina and Elias Ymer, Sweden; David O’Hare, Ireland and Joe Salisbury, Great Britain (q) vs. Mao-Xin Gong, China and Ze Zhang, China (4); Jeevan Dedunchezhiyan, India and Christopher Rungkat, Indonesia vs. Mackenzie McDonald, U.S. and Max Schnur, U.S. (wc).

This story was originally published January 31, 2017 at 11:06 PM with the headline "Dallas tennis tourney dazzled by trio of 19-year-old Americans."