Former Kentucky Wildcat Tom Jomby (FRA) won in straight sets on Monday night in front of a packed house at the Hilary J. Boone Varsity Tennis Center to book his spot in the second round of the 2018 Kentucky Bank Tennis Championships.
Jomby breezed through the first set 6-2 before a thrilling second set would push the Frenchman to the limits. After a double-break 4-0 lead for Jomby, Lucas Catarina (MON) would get both breaks back and force a second-set tiebreak. At 1-1, Jomby got a mini-break and then again at 5-5 as he was able to serve out an ace to book his spot into the second round.
In one of the best matches of the day, Georgia Bulldog Kennedy Schaffer (USA) was able to outlast third-seeded Emily Webley-Smith in two sets, 6-0, 7-6 (6) on court one. Schaffer was on cruise control in the first set, hitting her spots and breezing through the opening frame in a little under half an hour. Webley-Smith would put up a great fight in the second set, after breaking with Schaffer serving for the match, she forced a second-set tiebreak. After fending off an early mini-break, Schaffer had the match on her racquet with a 7-6 advantage and hit a great passing shot into the far court to seal the win and book her spot in Tuesday’s qualification finals.
In the early wave of matches, Anastasia Nefedova (USA), Maddison Inglis (AUS) and Alison Bai (AUS) all booked their spots in the qualification finals on the two main center courts. On the outer bank of courts, Amanda Rodgers (USA) won a marathon two hour and 37 minute match over Emily Fanning (NZL) 7-5, 4-6, 6-4 breaking in the third set to close out a monumental win for the American.
The USA’s good form on the women’s side continued to Sanaz Marand (USA), who found herself a set down, but fought back to take the final two frames 6-1 and 6-4 over Hayley Carter (USA) in two hours and 51 minutes of on-court time.
Play continues in Lexington on Tuesday at 9 a.m. ET with ATP and ITF action.
ORDER OF PLAY – TUESDAY, JULY 31, 2018
CENTER COURT 1 start 9:00
[5] M. Purcell (AUS) vs J. Menezes (BRA)
[4] L. Broady (GBR) vs [Q] B. Gojo (CRO)
[Q] J. Wolf (USA) vs D. Evans (GBR)
E. Leshem (ISR) vs [7] J. Clarke (GBR)
Not Before 19:00
[WC] J. Fruttero (USA) / R. Schneider (USA) vs H. Grenier (FRA) / T. Jomby (FRA)
Y. Chung (KOR) vs [WC] W. Bushamuka (USA)
CENTER COURT 2 start 9:00
ITF MATCH
ITF MATCH
ITF MATCH
ITF MATCH
ITF MATCH
ITF MATCH
COURT 3 start 9:00
ITF MATCH
ITF MATCH
ITF MATCH
ITF MATCH
ITF MATCH
A. Lawson (USA) / K. Sell (BRA) vs [3] R. Galloway (USA) / R. Maytin (VEN)
COURT 6 start 9:00
ITF MATCH
[Q] M. Torpegaard (DEN) vs [Alt] A. Harris (AUS)
S. Myneni (IND) vs [3] N. Gombos (SVK)
[Q] A. Rybakov (USA) vs [8] S. Napolitano (ITA)
K. Uchida (JPN) vs [Alt] D. Kelly (AUS)
[1] R. Roelofse (RSA) / L. Saville (AUS) vs S. Myneni (IND) / N. Prashanth (IND)
COURT 7 start 9:00
ITF MATCH
ITF MATCH
[LL] R. Schneider (USA) vs I. Sijsling (NED)
J. De Loore (BEL) vs M. Barrios Vera (CHI)
[6] L. Harris (RSA) vs Y. Uchiyama (JPN)
