Eubanks Continues Dream Run In Atlanta

College tennis star Christopher Eubanks is enjoying his best summer ever with a dream week in his hometown at the BB&T Atlanta Open. The rising senior at Georgia Tech reached his first ATP World Tour quarter-final on Thursday night by defeating eighth seed and #NextGenATP American Jared Donaldson 6-4, 4-6, 6-2.

Eubanks rushed to a 3-0 lead in the deciding set and took the match after a pair of double faults from Donaldson wrapped up the contest. He then took a lap around the court and high-fived the fans to celebrate his victory. 

Eubanks, currently No. 461 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, is competing in just his fifth pro event of 2017 due to a hectic college tennis schedule. He won his first ATP World Tour main draw singles match on Tuesday over another #NextGenATP American in Taylor Fritz. Eubanks came through the qualifying in Atlanta last year to reach his first ATP World Tour main draw.

Awaiting him in the quarter-finals is fourth seed Ryan Harrison, who saved a match point to survive a marathon 6-7(2), 7-6(4), 7-5 encounter with John Millman. The American saved the match point on his serve at 3-5 in the second set, then blasted a pair of return winners en route to breaking Millman in the next game. He secured the lone break of the final set at 5-5, ultimately knocking off a volley winner on his first match point to advance in two hours and 45 minutes.

“I love it here. I grew up playing all the Southern tournaments and being here feels as close to home as it gets,” said Harrison. “Everybody from the crowd to the DJ is willing to step up and help pull you through when you are down a set and a break.

“I would put today’s match in the category of mental maturity,” he added. “One of the things I’ve been focusing on in the past 12 months is understanding that bad things are going to happen, but I’m pretty sure I would have gone down in that match 12 months ago. I think my energy level, the crowd and the way I was able to stay positive helped get me through it.”

Harrison made his first Atlanta semi-final at the age of 19 in 2011, then repeated that feat in 2013. He’s enjoying a career-best season, winning his first ATP World Tour singles title this February in Memphis (d. Basilashvili) and reaching a career-high Emirates ATP Ranking of No. 40 earlier this month.

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A rain delay and long matches on Stadium Court meant top seed Jack Sock didn’t finish his opening-round match with Dudi Sela until well after midnight, but the American comfortably advanced with a 6-4, 6-3 victory. Sock saved all six break points he faced and won 84 per cent of his first-serve points en route to advancing in 71 minutes.

The top seed is looking for his third ATP World Tour title of 2017. He enjoyed an outstanding start to the season that saw him prevail in Auckland (d. Sousa) and Delray Beach (d. Raonic via walkover).

Next up for Sock is fifth seed Kyle Edmund, who moved into this third ATP World Tour quarter-final of the season by rallying from a set down to defeat the red-hot Peter Gojowczyk 2-6, 6-4, 7-5. 

“I was really pleased to get through that,” said Edmund. “He was hitting really cleanly in the first set and I wasn’t able to get into many points. I’ve been in Atlanta quite awhile to get used to the conditions, so it’s nice to get wins under your belt and get some momentum for the rest of this hard-court swing.”

Gojowczyk, a semi-finalist last week in Newport, led by a break at 3-2 in the deciding set, but Edmund fought back to prevail after two hours of play. Both of the Brit’s previous quarter-finals this year also came on hard-courts in Brisbane and Delray Beach. Next up for Edmund is top seed Jack Sock or Dudi Sela.

Ratiwatana Brothers Square Off In Atlanta

Sanchai Ratiwatana and Millman reached the semi-finals over Sonchat Ratiwatana and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi 6-2, 6-4. The Thai twins had only played once before an ATP Challenger Tour event in Cremona in May 2011, with Sanchai also prevailing in that encounter. Sanchai and Millman will play either top seeds Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan or Hyeon Chung and Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan.

Wesley Koolhof and Artem Sitak also advanced to the last four with a 6-7(7), 7-6(4), 10-4 win against Andres Molteni and Adil Shamasdin. Next up for Koolhof/Sitak are fourth seeds Purav Raja and Divij Sharan.