US Open Report: David Eases Through as Gordon Tests Gaultier On Opening Day at Drexel by Steve Cubbins October 11, 2013
- The Main draws of the 2013 Delaware Investments U.S. Open kicked off
today at Drexel - which was a good enough reason to call it "Drexel
Day," but it was also a day where all the students at Drexel University
not only got free entry to see some of the world's top players in
action, they got free Pizza too!
Play took place on the
all-glass showcourt, and downstairs on the athletic center courts too,
where the qualifying action was played out over the last two nights.
That's sixteen matches today in the top half of the draws, then it's
the same again tomorrow to complete the first round of the historic WSA
and PSA World Series events, which are, for the first time ever,
offering equal prize money to the world's top men and women.
The day started with a
comfortable enough win for women's champion Nicol David against
qualifier Kylie Lindsay and ended - on the glass court at least - with
US Champion Chris Gordon setting men's top seed Gregory Gaultier a very
stiff challenge for two games.
There were no upsets
to report, although Wales' Tesni Evans put in a great effort to take
eighth seed Madeline Perry to five games, Ryan Cuskelly extended fourth
seed Karim Darwish for 72 minutes, and Omar Abdel Aziz came very close
to fifth seed Mohamed El Shorbagy in the only all-Egyptian match of the
day. The longest match of the day saw Scotland's Alan Clyne come from
two games down to beat qualifier Steve Finitsis in 88 minutes.
Gordon wasn't the only
home player to fall - Latasha Khan and Olivia Blatchford met their
matches in Sarah Kippax and Donna Urquhart, but the hosts have three
more players in the mix tomorrow.
Men's Round One (top half):
[1] Gregory Gaultier (Fra) v Chris Gordon (Usa) 12-10, 15-13, 11-1 (47m) Adrian Waller (Eng) bt Marwan El Shorbagy (Egy) 11-8, 11-2, 11-4 (41m) Mathieu Castagnet (Fra) bt [Q] Shahier Razik (Can) 11-7, 11-5, 8-11, 11-6 (68m) [7] Borja Golan (Esp) bt Shawn Delierre (Can) 11-3, 8-10 rtd (31m)
