Atlanta Day 1 Qualifying Recap
–Steen Kirby, TennisEastCoast.com

Bemelmans was pleased with his victory

The BB&T Atlanta Open kicked off and the weather quickly sunned up as all the seeded qualifier players advanced. Ruben Bemelmans started it off with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Erik Graves. Bemelmans, who reached the 2nd round of Wimbledon as a qualifier and is at a career high ranking of 127, made the veteran Graves run out of his socks to reach his returns as he sliced and diced the ball.

The 8 seed, Brazilian Ricardo Hocevar, was tested against Phillip Simmonds but advanced 7-6, 7-5 in a long match. South African Rik DeVoest, the 5 seed, also faced a tough test against a relentless Nathan Pasha. Pasha, who is a promising young player at the University of Georgia and was a local favorite with his own cheering section, took the 1st set off De Voest, the world number 173, 7-6 in a tiebreak and was feeding off the energy of the crowd. De Voest powered through, finally advancing 6-7 6-2 7-5.

Tim Smyczek

Tim Smyzcek, who won the Tallahassee Challenger back in April, had no trouble against Judd Motz and won 6-0 6-1. Ricardas Berankis, the qualifying 2 seed, did the same in winning his match over Ignacio Taboada 6-2, 6-1. Alex Kuznetsov beat Dean O’Brien 6-2, 6-2 and Sergei Bubka served well, and like the other seeds advanced over Jack Anton 6-1, 6-0. Ricardo Mello survived a match with few breaks, beating a sometimes dejected Mikhail Ledovskikh of Russia 7-5, 7-5.

Berankis showed his touch at the net

Of the qualifying matches not featuring a seeded player, Lukas Dlouhy beat Christopher Eubanks 7-6, 6-0, Olivier Charroin of France beat Luiz Inaimo of Brazil 6-3, 6-4, and Drake Bernstein, a UGA wild card, beat Bradley Cox 6-3, 5-0 (ret.). Also, Catalin Gard beat Juan-Carlos Spir 7-6, 6-1, Kevin King of Georgia Tech won his rivalry match against Wil Spencer of Georgia 6-4, 6-3 in a spirited battle, and Olivier Sanjous triumphed over Pierre-Ludovic Duclos in 3 sets 6-7, 7-5, 6-3, coming on strong at the end. Mbonisi Ndimande beat David Span 6-3, 6-0 and Switzerland’s Luca Margaroli beat Eric Sock as his brother Jack watched intently, 6-4 5-7, 6-2 in the final match of the day.

Tomorrow’s 2nd round qualifying action will feature Bemelmans vs. Dlouhy in an intriguing match-up, Charroin vs. Hocevar, Berankis vs. Bernstein, De Voest vs. King, Bubka vs. Gard (Ukraine vs. Romania), Sanjous vs. Smyzcek, Mello vs. Ndimande and Kuznetsov vs. Margaroli.

Ricardas is happy to sign for the fans