Photo Credit: Tessa Kolodny (Challenger of Dallas FB page)
Photo Credit: Tessa Kolodny (Challenger of Dallas FB page)
The pride of Tennessee, Rhyne Williams took his first challenger title in Dallas last night 7-5, 6-3 over veteran and former top 20 Robby Ginepri. Williams dictated play and kept his cool, coming back from a break down in the 1st set to take it, then pushing through to break and take the match.
He also padded his resume this week with wins over Austin Kraijcek, the former Texas A&M standout, the seeded Rajeev Ram, Alex Kunetsov, and a 3 set semifinal win over the resurgent Frank Dancevic, who was playing really well up until that match. Williams will be at a career high ranking when the new rankings come out and continues his push to break into the top 150 and beyond.
He attributed many of his good results to an improved fitness level stating; “I had to cut back on carbs, junk food, pizza. I like my beer as well so can’t do that too often.” Great things seem to be ahead for the young American.
As for Ginepri, he had a nice resurgence this week after many were assuming retirement was near. He managed to beat Rik De Voest, Ryan Sweeting, Denys Molchanov and fellow former solid ATP pro James Blake in an all wild card semifinal.
—Steen Kirby
