By Richard Pagliaro
(April 6, 2010) HOUSTON — Clay court tennis can be a bruising experience for Americans who continue to drop from the draw in a varied River Oaks exodus that Houston resident Michael Russell, one of the day's departed, summed up succinctly as "bizarre."
A total of six American men departed the U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships before 5 p.m. today. Two Americans retired, two withdrew and two suffered straight sets losses.
Qualifier Ryan Sweeting proved to be a dust-buster on the dirt. Sweeting prevented a complete American wipe out by upsetting fifth-seeded Evgeny Korolev, 6-3, 4-6, 6-2, in one hour, 54 minutes.
Less than two hours after 2006 champion Mardy Fish, the last American man to win the U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships, was forced to withdraw from the tournament with a severely strained gluteal, both eighth-seeded Michael Russell and Taylor Dent departed the draw due to injuries.
Those exits followed Rajeev Ram's retirement with a groin injury. Ram trailed Argentina's Juan Ignacio Chela, 6-2, 3-0, when he pulled the plug on Court 7.
Dent retired after losing the opening set of his first-round match to Horacio Zeballos, 6-3, due to a strained groin.
"It felt a little tight this morning," said Dent who was limping as he made his way into the interview tent. "I knew I had some tightness and soreness, but not to this extent."
Houston resident Russell pulled out of the tournament prior to this afternoon's opening-round match against Mikhail Kukushkin with an ankle injury. Lucky loser Michael Yani replaced Russell in the draw then exited in a more conventional route — with a 6-1, 7-5, loss to Kukushkin.
Dent was streaking to his right racing for a running forehand when he slid and grimaced. The 28-year-old Dent continued the match, but began playing closer to the lines in an effort to shorten the points. Dent steered a forehand down the line wide to drop the first set after 37 minutes of play then walked to the net to retire.
Russell partnered Xavier Malisse in doubles on Monday and the pair held match points in the second-set tie breaker but failed to capitalize in falling to young Americans Ryan Harrison and Donald Young, 2-6, 7-6(6), 10-1.
Wild card Young bowed to qualifier Kevin Anderson, 7-5, 6-3. World No. 141 Young, who was seeking his first Tour-level main draw win since the Australian Open, had won three of four prior meetings with Anderson, but did produce consistent depth on his groundstrokes today. Anderson played through qualifying to reach the main draw and was sharper throughout the match.
"I planned to play qualies but I got the wild card," said Young. "He's more match tough. We played a bunch of times and I had a pretty good record against him, but my ball didn't penetrate him today."
Asked to assess the state of his game, Young said: "It's progressing and better than it showed today. My goal is to get back to the top 100 and I'd like to be top 50 by the end of the year."