Harrison Looking For Title No. 2 In New York

Ryan Harrison’s start to remember in 2018 continued on Monday at the New York Open. The Louisiana native outplayed compatriot Donald Young 6-3, 7-6(4) to advance to the second round in Long Island.

This is the first ATP World Tour tournament on Long Island since 2004 when the tennis took place in August, one week before the US Open. This year’s tournament is being played at the NYCB Live, home of the Nassau Coliseum. Harrison won the 2017 Memphis Open, the former name of this ATP World Tour tournament (d. Basilashvili).

“A tricky match… I was serving well early and that was able to get me through a lot of early mistakes and missed opportunities with some early break points,” he said.

Harrison improved to 7-2 on the year. He reached the final at the Sydney International (l. to Kyrgios) and the third round at the Australian Open (l. to Cilic). Harrison will next meet Croatian Ivo Karlovic, who hit 20 aces to prevail past Harrison’s countryman Jared Donaldson 6-4, 7-6(4).  “I started well. That helped me at the beginning of the match because I knew I could do well against him,” Karlovic said.

#NextGenATP compatriot Frances Tiafoe celebrated his first tour-level win of the season, beating junior World No. 1 Sebastian Korda, the son of 1998 Australian Open champion Petr Korda, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2. Petr Korda also won the Hamlet Cup in Long Island in 1992 for one of his 10 singles titles.

Tiafoe, a favourite to make the 2018 Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan, fell in the first round at the Brisbane International presented by Suncorp and the Australian Open. Sebastian Korda, 17, was making his tour-level debut. The 6’4” right-hander won the Australian Open boys’ singles title last month to rise to No. 1 in the junior rankings.

“He’s playing great tennis. I congratulate him on winning the Australian Open. He’s going to have a great career,” Tiafoe said.

Tiafoe will next face Israeli Dudi Sela, who beat eighth seed Nikoloz Basilashvili, 6-4, 6-4.