Report from the Farmers Classic
by James Handal


The Farmers Classic at the campus of UCLA has been underway since Saturday, July 23 with Qualifying and on Monday, July 25, the first round started. On Monday in Straus Stadium, there was first round singles with Somdev Devvarman playing Ryan Sweeting. Ryan Sweeting's forehand and big serve were working well against Devvarman. It was a very close match, but Sweeting won through 6-4, 7-6(6).
Robby Ginepri then played Yen-Hsun Lu in Straus Stadium. Yen-Hsun Lu, who is very tactical and knows how to set up a point, won the match 6-4, 7-5.

On Tuesday July 26, Ernests Gulbis of Latvia played Xavier Malisse of Belgium. The match split sets and went to a third set tiebreaker which was won by Gulbis. Gulbis won 2-6, 6-3, and 7-6(5).
James Blake beat Michael Berrer in quick fashion with the score being 6-2, 6-3.
Ryan Harrison, the rising American beat Richard Berankis 6-7(4), 7-5, 6-3.
Steve Johnson from USC, who won 2 NCAA Titles with USC, was going against Gilles Muller. Muller won 2-6, 6-3, and 6-4.
The last match had Grigor Dimitrov versus Tommy Haas. Dimitrov won the match 6-3, 6-2.
Some of the things that were going on the grounds of the tournament were autograph sessions from Mardy Fish, who is the #1 seed in the tournament. Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus also signed autographs. The tournament is well underway and many people came out and observed the matches.

On Wednesday at the Farmers Classic, in action are Ernests Gulbis, Daniel Kosakowski, Marcos Baghdatis, Yen-Hsun Lu. The feature match of the day is Juan Martin del Potro vs James Blake of the United States.