Elizabeth Moore Sarasota Open Magnificent Monday

By Scoop Malinowski

As we are watching the Benjamin Kittay vs Strong Kirchheimer first round qualies match on Sunday afternoon on Nick Bollettieri Stadium, the sponsor of the tournament Elizabeth Moore noted to the tournament announcer Ray Collins and myself, “The quality of tennis in this match looks like a final.”

Kirchheimer, 30 years old and ranked 713, ended up prevailing vs the 22 year old wildcard with no ATP singles ranking (but 108 in doubles), 62 46 62.

On Monday on Kei Nishikori court, Kirchheimer contiued his winning ways with a 76 36 76 win vs Christian Langmo, age 29 and ranked 473. It was the fourth career meeting of the two journeyman, Langmo won the last two duels 64 64 in 2023 in Fairfield Challenger and at 2021 ITF $15,000 64 64. Kirchheimer won the first match they played in 2021 ITF $15,000 Edwardsville by the same 64 64 score. So Kirchheimer is into the main draw and will face France’s Thomas Faurel next. The French 20 year old who was born in New York City, played the tournament last year but hurt his foot and was forced to miss several months after. He is ranked 418.

The action was superb all over the grounds and many matches stood out. Hynek Barton beat veteran Mitchell Krueger 64 64 very impressively. Earlier in the day I asked Mitch, age 32 and ranked 266, what was the best he ever felt on court, like in the zone and he mentioned last year in Knoxville when he beat Antoine Ghibaudo 62 61 in the second round en route to the title which he won in the final vs Darwin Blanch 67 64 61. That tiebreak in the final was the only set Krueger lost all week. Krueger has been a pro since 2012 and earned almost $2m and he said the last time he played at IMG was at the Eddie Herr semifinals vs Dominic Thiem.

Barton is a player I never saw or heard of before – nor did USTA national coach Dean Goldfine, who was their coaching Krueger (and all the Americans in the draw), but he has a very explosive, heavyweight game with nuclear weapons. The Czech 22 year old is ranked 296, he stands six foot tall and weighs 158 and he can do everything. Keep an eye for this player Hynek Barton. Another curious aspect of this match was there three heavily suited up security guards around the court. I asked if there was a death threat and one officer said yes but then downplayed it. It made no sense for any loon to target that court or those two players but fortunately there were no incidents.

Another curiosity on the outer courts was a second round qualies match where the coach of one player told me how his player has sufficient talent and power to be a successful ATP player however he has a bad habit of getting to negative on himself when things go wrong. And sure enough as we watched the match, that is exactly what happened. The player missed a few shots and he verbally complained and showed negative body language – repeatedly. The ex ATP top 100 player and now coach said this player does fine at Futures but every time he plays a Challenger, he mentally unravels because he just doesn’t have the self belief he belongs. This player is ranked in the top 300 in the world! After this player lost in straight sets, he quietly shook hands, collected his belongings and peacefully walked off the court around the fence and sat on a bench by himself. It was the same bench I still remember seeing Martin Damm Jr. sitting on when he was about sixteen during Eddie Herr week.

Speaking of Martin Damm Jr, who is now 22 and ranked 127 in the world, he played the night match on Bollettieri Stadium vs Alex Rybakov, the 29 year old ranked 348, in a duel of the southpaws. Damm Jr. won the first set 63 and appeared on his way to his first ever Elizabeth Moore Sarasota Open victory. He had previously lost both times 67 in the third set tiebreakers to Patrick Maloney and Daniel Altmaier. The hometown whammy hit Damm Jr again as he would lose control of Rybakov 63 67 36. Still, Damm Jr. is progressing nicely – he qualified at US Open 2025 and won a main draw match vs Darwin Blanch. Damm Jr. will play doubles with Hynek Barton which will be an interesting pairing.

JJ Wolf made a return to Challenger action after nearly a year off due to some surgery but he lost 36 67 to Daniel Glinka of Estonia. Wolf now wears Boast attire and New Balance shoes, for those who care about such details. The youngest US Open player ever at age 14, Kathleen Horvath watched the match with her mom in the VIP section. Of course, tennis buffs would remember Horvath orchestrated one of the greatest upsets in Grand Slam history when she beat Martina Navratilova at the French Open in the 1980s, which was Martina’s only loss all year. Curiously there are no broadcast videos of that monumental match, which leads some to suspect Martina confiscated the videotapes from the broadcasting network and destroyed them so nobody could ever see it. Why else would such a historic match video completely vanish?

Canadian Liam Draxl continued his winning form with a dominant 62 75 win vs Kaylen Bigun no Nick’s court. After the match, Draxl, last year’s runner up, did the interview with announcer Ray Collins without a shirt, showing off a muscular build worthy of a Baywatch TV show role. Today Draxl will play Nishesh Basavareddy in the main draw first round, which will be a very interesting duel as the American has been struggling with poor results, dropping ranking (191) and a coach who just abandoned him (Gilles Cervara).

Kei Nishikori is scheduled to play the night match tonight vs Nicholas Kicker. On Monday, the Japanese legend, now 36 and ranked 417, hit with the 15 year old qualies wildcard Teodor Davidov, who lost to Draxl. Davidov also hit yesterday with Murphy Cassone who is here training but not playing. Young Teo is off to the Junior Davis Cup with Team USA next week in Montreal.

The tournament may have a new home at IMG Academy but the tennis action is as sensational as always.

Photos By Ray Collins.

Elizabeth Moore Sarasota Open · Kathleen Horvath · Liam Draxl

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