Good day in San Jose!
Nick and Kei Nishikori at the NBTA
If you train at the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy, and you were playing in San Jose yesterday, you won! Four men, Tommy Haas, Radek Stepanek, Taylor Dent, and Kei Nishikori all opened up with victories in the first round of the SAP Open.
Haas defeated German wild card entrant Lars Poerschke 6-1, 7-6 and will take on Belgian veteran Christophe Rochus in the second round. Stepanek needed three sets, but prevailed over German qualifier Dominik Meffert 5-7, 6-3, 6-1 and will face either Guillermo Canas or Chris Guccione in the second round.
Also picking up a win was comeback kid Taylor Dent. He beat fellow American Bobby Reynolds 6-3, 6-4 and served extremely well throughout the match. His second round opponent will either be Todd Widom or Robby Ginepri.
Finally, Japanese tennis sensation Kei Nishikori beat 2008 US Open quarterfinalist Gilles Muller 7-5, 6-2 and will most likely take on Juan Martin Del Potro (assuming he beats Andrea Stoppini) in the second round. If you remember, Nishikori and Del Potro faced off in the fourth round of last year’s US Open with Del Potro winning that match.
We couldn’t have asked for a better start than what happened yesterday and we will definitely be hoping for the same results in the second round! Good luck to all four of you!!
