After a first-round bye, five-time defending women’s singles champion and top seed Hiromi Sasano of San Diego began her title defense at the National 40 Hard Court Championships on a winning note as she defeated Quynh Le of Irvine, 6-2, 6-3 at the La Jolla Beach & Tennis Club.
Playing on under overcast skies on Court No. 1, Sasano won a hard-fought 14-point game in the third game of the opening set and went on to establish a 5-2 lead. Despite serving out the first set, the defending champion struggled at times to find her rhythm as Le kept the ball in play to extend the rallies.
After exchanging service breaks to start the second set, Sasano gained the advantage with another service break in the fifth game and then held serve for a 4-2 lead. Later, with Sasano leading 5-3, Le served to stay in the match and fought off two match points before Sasano closed out the match, which took 72 minutes.
Following her second-round victory, Sasano admitted that her preparation for this week’s USTA National 40 Hard Court Championships was limited due to a right elbow injury.
“I was a little rusty. I didn’t play that well, but I’m sure I’ll play better as the tournament goes on. This was a pretty good warm-up,” Sasano said. “I’m trying not to put too much pressure on myself. I’ll just do my best and see what happens.”
Sasano, who is attempting to win her sixth consecutive singles title, is scheduled to play unseeded Rebecca Matro of Del Mar in Thursday’s quarterfinals at 10 a.m.
In the lower half of the women’s singles draw, second-seeded Dina McBride of Thousand Oaks, dismissed Christine Olejnik of Vancouver, Canada, 6-0, 6-1 to reach the quarterfinals. McBride, a former two-time National 40 Hard Court singles champion, will play unseeded Lynette Li of West Vancouver, Canada on Thursday at 10 a.m.
After an entertaining day of fourth-round matches, men’s singles quarterfinal pairings are set for Thursday. Top-seeded Henry Choi of Vancouver, Canada, breezed past unseeded Anthony Radogna of Temecula, 6-2, 6-1 and will meet ninth-seeded Andre Cury of Henderson, Nev., in a highly-anticipated quarterfinal.
The 46-year-old Cury, a native of Brazil, finished 2014 as the No. 1 ranked player in the International Tennis Federation 35+ singles rankings. On Wednesday, he eliminated fifth-seeded Jeff Greenwald of San Anselmo, 7-6 (6), 6-4.
Second-seeded Wojtek Bratek of San Antonio, eased past ninth-seeded Ryan Pang of Bellevue, Wash., 6-2, 6-2 and will face fifth-seeded Brett Masi of Long Beach on Thursday.
Former singles champion Stuart Ross Duncan of Aliso Viejo got past ninth-seeded Ryan Pang of Bellevue, Wash., 6-4, 7-5. The third-seeded Duncan, who won the singles title in 2018, will take on unseeded Andrew Cheney of Scottsdale, Ariz., in the quarterfinals.
In Wednesday’s match of the day, fifth-seeded Brian Murphy of Mercer Island, Wash., scored a thrilling 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (5) victory over ninth-seeded Jevin West of Seattle. On Thursday, Murphy will play ninth-seed and fellow Mercer Island resident Jesse Walter, who ousted fourth-seeded Jan Axel Tribler of Honolulu 6-3, 6-1.
All men’s singles quarterfinal matches are scheduled to begin at 11:30 a.m. To view draws for each tournament division, click here.
La Jolla Beach & Tennis Club welcomes tennis spectators to the tournament with free admission. Onsite parking is available for a nominal fee.
The USTA National Father/Son and Grandfather/Grandson Hard Court Doubles Championships will also be played at the La Jolla Beach & Tennis Club with matches beginning Friday, Dec. 2 and concluding Sunday, Dec. 4.
RadioTennis.com will air live audio coverage of the USTA National 40 Hard Court Championships during the final weekend of the tournament. Tennis broadcaster Ken Thomas will provide live commentary from Court 1 at the La Jolla Beach & Tennis Club on Saturday, Dec. 3 at 10:15 a.m. and Sunday, Dec. 4 at 11 a.m. Fans can tune-in the broadcast at https://radiotennis.com.
