KARL CORBETT in SAVANNAH
The 2019 edition of the ATP Savannah Challenger Photo: Karl Corbett
Savannah, Georgia is the sweet spot of the southern United States. This week’s Challenger event is set at The Landings, a beautiful forested setting in the suburbs. Towering Live Oak trees are draped with Spanish Moss, creating a beautiful setting for professional tennis. This is the 3rd week of the clay court swing through the southern United States. The Landings first hosted the tournament in 2009.
The St. Joseph's / Candler Savannah tournament took on an added air of importance when, at the last moment, a former champion, Tennys Sandgren, accepted a wild card and entered the tournament as the number one seed.
The field is dominated by the home country, with 16 Americans in the draw. Europeans and in the field hail from: Great Britain, France, Germany Switzerland and Denmark, Italy and Croatia. South Americans represent their home countries of Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, Chile and Venezuela.
Federico Coria of Argentina in 1st round action. Photo: Karl Corbett
In second round matches, South Americans showed their clay court prowess. Marcelo Barrios Vera, a 21-year-old from Chile, lost the first set to Croatian Nino Serdarusic. Barrios Vera had more first serves in the box in the first set, but was broken twice, while Serdarusic saved both break points he faced. In the second and third sets, Serdarusic had a higher first serve percent, but Barrios Vera prevailed in both sets to take the match. He moves on to face American Chris Eubanks in the third round. Eubanks defeated Denis Yevseyev from Kazakhstan in straight sets, putting in 80% of his first serves in both sets.
Pictured above, Federico Coria of Buenos Aires served at a 76% first serve percentage to defeat Frenchman Arthur Rinderknech 6-2 7-5. Next up Coria in insured of playing an American, either #1 seed Tennys Sandgren - Alexander Ritschard.
Demonstrating the international nature of the game, Vietnamese pro Nam Hoang Ly, ranked #418 in the world, notched a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Venezuela’s Ricardo Rodriguez-Pace to set up a second round matchup against the tournament's number 2 seed, Italy’s Paolo Lorenzi.
Third round action begins on Wednesday and a high of 82F is expected.