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Competitors, Young and Old, Find Success in Qualifying Draw
July 19, 2008
Tennis fans in attendance on the first day of qualifying at the Rogers Cup were treated to an exciting blend of young, talented upstarts and smart, savvy veterans, all of whom are hungry for a place within the Rogers Cup main draw.
Youth was served with impressive performances from hyped American newcomers Donald Young and Ottawa-born Jesse Levine. The fifth-seeded Young put his quickness and fluid groundstrokes on display in a win over Vasek Pospisil (Vernon, British Columbia), while Levine, the No. 9 seed, topped Woong-Sun Jun (Korea) in a tough three-setter.
The old guard of the ATP had a successful day on court too, as top seed Thomas Johansson and No. 12 Jonas Bjorkman set up an all-Sweden second round encounter with wins over Vancouver’s Philip Bester and Gary Lugassy (France), respectively. In order to secure a spot in the second round, Johansson, the 1999 Rogers Cup champion, had to emerge from a set down in order to overcome the feisty Bester. ATP veteran and 2008 Wimbledon quarter-finalist Arnaud Clement (France) held true to his No. 2 seed in the qualifying draw by defeating Ukraine’s Ilia Marchenko in straight sets.
The day’s only upset occurred in the final match on Court 1, as Rohan Bopanna (India) stunned No. 4 seed Yen-Hsun Lu (Taipei). Bopanna and Ti Chen (Taipei), who advanced due to the withdrawal of No. 6 Wayne Odesnik (USA), were the only un-seeded players to move onto the second round.
Several intriguing match-ups await for a busy State Farm Family Day, as 14 competitors vie for main draw entry. Alongside Johansson-Bjorkman, day two matches include Clement facing Alejandro Falla (Colombia), Farrukh Dustov (Uzbekistan) taking on Lukas Dlouhy, Bopanna competing against Andrey Golubev (Kazakhstan), Young challenging Go Soeda (Japan), Chen going up against Alexandre Kudryavtsev (Russia), and Benjamin Becker (Germany) meeting Levine.
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