2-seed Riske Joins Luzhanska, Zhang in Women’s Quarter-finals
Lexington, KY (July 21) – Unseeded Blake Strode had one of
the biggest wins of his life Thursday night – over defending Lexington
Challenger champ Carsten Ball – because he waited out and frustrated the
big-hitting Australian. That strategy rendered the big differential in world
ranking meaningless – Ball 221, Strode 492.
“I was much more in counter-puncher mode today,” said the
former Arkansas Razorback star. As a result, the fifth-seeded Ball slugged
wildly at balls that more often than not landed closer to the back screen than
the baseline – scoring easy points for Strode.
“I needed to serve well, too, because I knew there wouldn’t
be many breaks,” said Strode, who broke to open the third set and held serve to
win out 7-5, 4-6, 6-4.
In the women’s night feature, No. 2 Alison Riske struggled
by 16-year-old Madison Keys 6-3, 6-7, 6-3. Riske – who almost enrolled at
Vanderbilt in ’09, but turned pro shortly after playing Lexington – will have
the 7 p.m. spotlight again Friday against 17-year-old Ohioan Lauren Davis, the
third-ranked junior in the world.
Smart-thinking by Strode – who has deferred Harvard Law
School three years – puts him into his first Challenger quarterfinal. “The
difference I think was I got a lot of serves back. (Ball’s) game is not suited
to having to play many points because of his big serve…so I knew he wouldn’t
want to get into long rallies,” said the St. Louis native.
Strode will play another giant-killer in Pierre-Ludovic
Duclos of Canada at (not before) 1:30 Friday.
Duclos, 357 in the world, handled the afternoon heat much
better than No. 4 Fritz Wolmarans (222) of South Africa and prevailed 6-2, 6-4.
“I had nothing to lose,” said Duclos, who also had the confidence of reaching a
$100K Challenger final in Guadalajara, Mexico last month – beating top-seeded
Joao Souza in the semis.
Former Lexington semifinalist but unseeded Jamie Baker of
Great Britain also dealt better with the nauseating on-court heat index than
third-seeded Chris Guccione. “When he’s flying, he’s a match for anybody,”
Baker said. “If he blasted a big serve me, (I thought) just walk away. But, if
I got one on my racket, I had to be ready” to win the rally.
Baker outbattled the tree-tall Australian Davis Cupper 7-5,
7-6 (4) and has a high noon date Friday with Greg Oulette.
