Nakashima, Michelsen Lead American Charge Into Winston-Salem R3

Rising American stars Brandon Nakashima and Alex Michelsen battled through tough matches on Tuesday to reach the third round of the Winston-Salem Open.

Nakashima, the reigning Next Gen ATP Finals champion, clawed past a contender for this year’s 21-and-under season finale, seventh seed Arthur Fils, 6-7(5), 7-6(5), 6-2 after two hours and 38 minutes.

“It was a very, very, very tough match from the beginning. We know each other pretty well, so we knew it was going to be a good battle for sure,” Nakashima said in his on-court interview. “In the beginning of the first set, both of us were serving pretty well and then [I played] a couple of loose points in the tie-break.

“But I tried to stay focussed and I was able to pull it out in the second set. It was again super tight. But then in the third set I was just trying to stay focussed out there. I was just trying to make him play, not trying to give anything for free and I’m happy that it ended my way.”

The 22-year-old will next play former World No. 7 Richard Gasquet in a generational clash.

Michelsen, who last month reached his first ATP Tour final in Newport, continued his charge towards a Top 100 breakthrough by defeating Austrian Sebastian Ofner 7-6(4), 7-5. The Californian, who turns 19 on Friday, is already at No. 127 in the Pepperstone ATP LIve Rankings.

“He came out firing, hitting some huge balls,” said Michelsen, who next faces last year’s finalist, Serbian Laslo Djere. “I was thinking ‘This guy is unbelievable’. Then he settled down a bit and the match was a little up and down. I’m just glad I got through.

“If you would have told me that I’d get a minimum three matches in before the US Open I would have taken it. Getting some good match practice in the humidity is huge for me.”

Michelsen is also a contender for the Next Gen ATP Finals, currently in seventh place in the Pepperstone ATP Live Next Gen Race.

Australian Max Purcell, who reached the quarter-finals last week at the ATP Masters 1000 event in Cincinnati, maintained his good form with a 6-4, 6-1 win over lucky loser Andrey Kuznetsov. Purcell is up to No. 45 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings. He first cracked the Top 100 in March.