With Sam Querrey hoping to continue his reign at Straus Stadium and world number four Andy Murray swooping in to grab the last wildcard, as well as the top seed, in his debut at the tournament, the Farmers Classic kicks off its 84^th year of men’s tennis at the UCLA campus in Los Angeles.  The tennis balls, along with a few racquets, will take most of the beating, but, as the Thin Lizzy song goes, “if the boys wanna fight, you’d better let 'em!”

 

Monday afternoon, qualifiers Ilija Bozoljac, Somdev Devvarman, Steve Johnson and Tim Smyczek won their way into the main draw while Ernests Gulbis, Rainer Schuettler, and Janko Tipsarevic booked trips to the Second Round.

 

Monday’s night session showdown featured Xavier Malisse and Dudi Sela.  It was a rough start for the Belgian.  By the third game of the first set, Malisse had already broken a racquet and berated the chair, his shotmaking almost too casual.   While Sela mixed up his game with slices, short balls and worked at staying offensive, he really only needed to keep the ball in play and wait for a Malisse mistake to get ahead.  The Israeli encountered a turn of events in the second set, however.  Malisse was calmer and tightened up his game, breaking his opponent twice to take the set only to revert back to his first set form in the third.  Sela took the match, 6-1, 4-6, 6-3.  Sela told the crowd afterwards that he “just kept fighting,” but credit may also be partly due to a fun and boisterous group of fans in his corner throughout the match.

 

Day 1 ended with Travis Parrott and Dusan Vemic teaming up to take on Arnaud Clement and Jonathan Erlich in doubles.  Parrott and Vemic were finalists here in 2008. But tonight, they found themselves up against a pair with a pretty impressive doubles résumé of their own.  The match was very close in the first set, with the momentum favoring the American-Serbian duo’s side of the court early on and then during the tiebreak, where they held a set point.  A few too many errors, however, combined with the experience of the French-Israeli pair across the net, quashed every lead they had and knocked them out of the tournament.   Clement and Erlich deservedly take up residence in the next round, with a 7-6(8) 6-2 scoreline.

 

 

Jim Courier may have entertained a packed crowed for the charity exhibition match this past Saturday night, bantering back and forth with his doubles partner, comedian Jon Lovitz, but that wasn’t the only reason he was in town.  A champion on these courts in 1997, Courier was the 2010 Tournament Honoree.  Since 1985, this award has been given annually to persons who have contributed to the growth of the sport of tennis throughout their career.   The ceremony followed the final singles match of the day and Courier spoke to the crowd of the fond memories he has of playing on the UCLA grounds and thanked fans for their continued support of this terrific tournament.