Top two seeds fall in $100K Fairfield quarterfinals

Unseeded Bjorn Fratangelo of Orlando, Fla., beat top seed
Jordan Thompson of Australia 6-1, 6-4 in the quarterfinals
of the Fairfield (Calif.) Challenger. Photo by Paul Bauman

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   FAIRFIELD, Calif. — Facing Bjorn Fratangelo after playing on Thursday night was a bad combination for Jordan Thompson.
   The unseeded Fratangelo upended the top-seeded Thompson 6-1, 6-4 this afternoon in the quarterfinals of the $100,000 NorthBay Healthcare Men's Pro Championship at Solano Community College.
   In tonight's late match, eighth-seeded Alex Bolt of Australia eliminated second-seeded Lloyd Harris of South Africa 6-3, 6-4.
   Fratangelo, 25, of Orlando, Fla., improved to 3-0 against Thompson, a 24-year-old Australian, after winning twice on clay. Both are 6-foot (1.83-meter) former top-100 players who have had success on the ATP World Tour, the major leagues of men's tennis.
   Even though Thompson's current and career-high rankings (No. 105 and No. 63 in February 2017, respectively) exceed Fratangelo's (No. 158 and No. 99 in June 2016, respectively), Fratangelo has more firepower with his booming serve and whipping forehand.
   "I knew I had to be really solid, so I think I did that to a T," said Fratangelo, who was named after Bjorn Borg and won the 2011 French Open boys singles title, beating current world No. 7 Dominic Thiem. "We had played a couple times, and I've always done well. I knew what I had to do and executed well."
   Whereas Fratangelo defeated Dominik Koepfer of Germany in straight sets in 75-degree (23.9 Celsius) weather on Thursday afternoon, Thompson outlasted hard-hitting Maxime Janvier of France on a bone-chilling night in a match that ended at 9:56 p.m. Thompson returned to the court 16 hours later to take on Fratangelo in 87-degree (30.6 Celsius) heat.

Jordan Thompson played in radically different conditions
from Thursday night. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Fratangelo, who reached the semifinals of an ATP grass-court tournament in Newport, R.I., last year, conceded that the scheduling might have favored him.
   "(The conditions) are probably a little bit faster than what he had last night, but he's a tremendous athlete and fit as hell, so I don't think that bothered him at all," Fratangelo said.
   Actually, it did. So did the short turnaround.
   "Last night, it was cold and very slow; today it's hot and fast — completely different conditions," moaned Thompson, who shocked then-No. 1 Andy Murray on grass in June 2017 and underwent a tonsilectomy late last year. "You finish a late match, and you get no time to recover."   
   After Fratangelo dominated the first set, he fought back from 0-40 to hold for 2-1 in the second set. Thompson overcame a 15-40 deficit to hold for 4-4 and saved two match points while serving at 4-5. But then he slugged a cross-court backhand wide and sailed a forehand long to end the match.
   Fratangelo won 22 of 27 points (81 percent) on his first serve and 12 of 19 (63 percent) on his second delivery, and saved all three break points against him.
   "He was playing well," Thompson said. "He didn't miss any balls in the first set. I did my best to adapt and nearly got there. It wasn't to be."

Fifth-seeded Adrian Menendez-Maceiras of Spain
beat JJ Wolf, a 19-year-old wild card from Cincin-
nati, 6-0, 6-4. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Both Harris, 6-foot-4 (1.93 meters), and Bolt qualified for a Grand Slam tournament this year, losing in the first round of the main draw, and own career-high rankings of No. 113 and No. 155, respectively.

   Bolt, a 25-year-old left-hander and two-time Australian Open doubles quarterfinalist, saved all eight break points against him against the 21-year-old Harris, who was playing for the fourth consecutive week. He qualified in Chengdu, China, on the ATP tour two weeks ago and stunned 32-year-old Gael Monfils, who climbed to a career-high No. 6 in 2016, in the first round before losing to eventual champion Bernard Tomic in a third-set tiebreaker. Harris then won the $100,000 Stockton (Calif.) Challenger.
   "It was difficult," Harris said regarding fatigue against Bolt, who came within two points of losing to wild card Collin Altamirano of Sacramento in the second round, on a mercifully warmer night. "I have played a lot of matches in the last month, but he was better on the night -- what can I say?"
   Fratangelo is scheduled to meet sixth-seeded Casper Ruud, a 19-year-old Norwegian, for the first time on Saturday not before 2 p.m. Ruud, the son of former top-40 player Christian Ruud, crushed Germany's Sebastian Fanselow, playing in the Fairfield quarterfinals as a qualifier for the second consecutive year, 6-1, 6-0 in 48 minutes.
   The 6-foot (1.83-meter) Ruud, ranked No. 137, won 23 of 26 points (88 percent) on his first serve and never faced a break point. Fanselow, a 26-year-old former Pepperdine All-American, double-faulted six times, won only three of 18 points (17 percent) on his second serve and lost all five break points against him.
   After Fratangelo and Ruud square off, Bolt will meet fifth-seeded Adrian Menendez-Maceiras of Spain for the first time. The 32-year-old Menendez-Maceiras, ranked No. 132, defeated JJ Wolf, a 19-year-old wild card from Cincinnati, 6-0, 6-4.
   Menendez-Maceiras, a quarterfinalist at the inaugural New York Open as a qualifier in February, survived all three break points against him. Wolf, a junior at Ohio State who ousted ailing third seed Noah Rubin on Thursday, converted only 46 percent of his first serves.
   Here are the Fairfield singles and doubles draws and Saturday's schedule. The tournament is being streamed live.

Wolf, 19, ousts No. 3 seed to reach first Challenger QF

JJ Wolf, a 19-year-old wild card, surprised third-seeded Noah Rubin 6-3, 6-2
today in the second round of the $100,000 Fairfield (Calif.) Challenger.
Photo by Cornelia Grimes 

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   FAIRFIELD, Calif. -- Dean O'Brien of South Africa had just left the trainer's room before his doubles match today when a reporter approached him.
   "Are you JJ?" the reporter asked.
   "I wish I was," quipped O'Brien, 28.
   JJ Wolf, a promising 19-year-old wild card from Cincinnati, displayed a powerful serve and forehand during his 6-3, 6-2 victory over the third seed, ailing Noah Rubin of Long Island, N.Y., in the second round of the $100,000 NorthBay Healthcare Pro Championship at Solano Community College.
   Wolf, a 6-foot (1.83-meter) junior at Ohio State, won a preposterous 24 of 25 points on his first serve and never faced a break point as he reached a quarterfinal on the Challenger circuit, equivalent to Triple A in baseball, for the first time.
   Playing Challengers, Wolf said, "is just a great opportunity for me. I'm just enjoying every minute out here and trying to get better and not worrying about winning or losing too much, just working on my game."
   On Monday in Tulsa, Okla., Wolf became the first Ohio State player to win the singles title in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association All-American Championships. He flew to the San Francisco Bay Area that night.
   "I got in a couple good warmup matches for this," Wolf said. "I'm playing solid tennis trying to get my game better for the future."
   Wolf will meet fifth-seeded Adrian Menendez-Maceiras, a 32-year-old Spaniard, on Friday. Menendez-Maceiras, ranked No. 132, beat former top-40 player Thiemo de Bakker, a 30-year-old Dutchman, 6-4, 6-3.
   In the other quarterfinal in the top half of the draw, top-seeded Jordan Thompson of Australia will play unseeded Bjorn Fratangelo of Orlando, Fla.
   Thompson, ranked No. 105 after reaching a career-high No. 63 in February 2017, beat hard-hitting Maxime Janvier of France 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-0 in a matchup of semifinalists in last week's $100,000 Stockton (Calif.) Challenger. The 6-foot-4 (1.93-meter) Janvier, 21, was breathing heavily on a cold night.
   Fratangelo, who was named after Bjorn Borg, defeated Germany's Dominik Koepfer, the runner-up in the indoor $100,000 San Francisco Challenger in February, 7-5, 6-3 to reach the Fairfield quarterfinals for the second consecutive year.
   Koepfer, a former All-American at Tulane in New Orleans, argued vociferously about a line call while serving at 5-5 in the first set and appeared to be justified. He then lost the game.
   Wolf already has cracked the top 500 at No. 499 and owns a victory over a top-100 player. He knocked off No. 86 Jozef Kovalik of Slovakia in the first round of qualifying in Wolf's hometown Western & Southern Open on the ATP World Tour, the major leagues of men's tennis, in August. Wolf then lost to No. 92 Marius Copil of Romania.
   "He's a good player," Rubin, a 22-year-old product of the John McEnroe Tennis Academy in New York, said of Wolf. "He's young, he's up and coming, hits the ball very clean, so I'm excited to see where he goes."

Noah Rubin praised JJ Wolf but complained of headaches and dizziness.
Photo by Cornelia Grimes

   The 5-foot-9 (1.75-meter) Rubin, who reached the singles quarterfinals and won the doubles title in Stockton, complained of headaches against Wolf.
   "I don't really get headaches too often," said Rubin, who had no aces and five double faults after the match played in 70-degree (21.1 Celsius) weather. "I think exhaustion took place. My coach (Carlos Benatzky) didn't really want me to play this tournament. I wanted to because it was just an hour away (from Stockton).
   "In the second or third game, I was just like, 'I'm not really moving to the left.' I was kind of seeing a few balls (at once). There was just a lot of dizziness going on. It's just one of those things that takes place. I just need a week without a racket and see what I can do at the end of the year."
   In steamy Washington on the ATP tour over the summer, Rubin toppled 6-foot-11 (2.11-meter) John Isner for his first top-10 win before losing to 20-year-old Russian phenom Andrey Rublev in the third round.
   "This is the first (year) I've been healthy," said Rubin, ranked a career-high No. 125. "I've never really experienced a full year before and don't know what it really encompasses mentally and physically. That being said, it's fortunate I had a successful summer. Most tournaments, I was playing three matches minimum. It's taken a lot out of me.
   "Today was just a mixture of being mentally exhausted and (getting) headaches. I was doing my best, but it felt like his serve was coming at me 180 (mph). I couldn't see anything. It was just one of those things."
   Rubin wore a Minnesota Wild (NHL) sweatshirt as he spoke after the match.
   "My girlfriend goes to vet school in Minnesota," he explained. "I'm a huge hockey fan. It's probably the only sport I really follow, and (the Wild) is a great team. The (New York) Islanders aren't doing so well, and it's fun to watch a really exciting team."
   Here are the Fairfield singles and doubles draws and Friday's schedule. The tournament is being streamed live.