By Jay Betsill
The Irving Tennis Classic‘s third edition proved to be a wild week of men’s pro tennis at Four Seasons Resort and Club in Las Colinas. Top seeded Vasek Pospisil, ranked No. 27 in the world, bowed out in the first round followed by No. 2 seed and 44th ranked Federico Delbonis in the second round.
Lukas Rosol, best known to tennis fans from his upset of Rafael Nadal in the second round of the 2012 Wimbledon, was the third seed and coming off a second-round loss last week at the BNP Paribas Open to sixth ranked Andy Murray and looking for some matches on his way to next week’s Sony Open in Miami. While the Nos. 4, 5 and 6 seeds would all fall in the second rounds, Americans Steve Johnson, Ryan Harrison and Tim Smyczek were putting on a show for the North Texas tennis fans who braved the ever-changing weather that featured wind gusts of 40 mph on Wednesday, the event’s first-ever rain delay on Saturday and temps in the 40s on Sunday.
Harrison and Smyczek would not make it to the weekend, but Johnson — the winner of last month’s Challenger of Dallas indoor event at T Bar M Racquet Club — advanced to the finals to battle Rosol. After beginning Sunday at 11 a.m. for the semi-finals and playing the finals later on that afternoon, it was apparent that Johnson had run out of gas with Rosol winning the championship match with relative ease, 6-0, 6-3.
Top seeded and 2012 doubles champions Santiago Gonzalez of Mexico and American Scott Lipsky triumphed over John-Patrick Smith and Michael Venus to win the doubles title. They have now played together in 51 tournaments in the last three years and this title is their seventh as a team.
Next up for Texas tennis fans is the U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championships at River Oaks Country Club in Houston, April 7-13. DFW tennis fans can look forward to this summer when the Texas Wild of Mylan World Team Tennis return to action at Four Seasons Resort and Club in Las Colinas.