Kwiatkowski, Nakashima Competing in Singles at the US Open
FLUSHING, N.Y. – Former Virginia men’s tennis players This-Son Kwiatkowski and Brandon Nakashima will competing next week in men’s singles at the US Open, being held August 31- Sept. 13 at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing, N.Y.
Nakashima had an impressive US Open debut, topping Paolo Lorenzi of Italy, who is currently ranked No. 123 but has a career-high ranking of No. 33, in straight-sets, 6-3, 6-2, 7-6. He faced No. 5 seed, Alexander Zverev, in the second round. (Watch match highlights here). Zrerev picked up a late break to take the first set, 7-5. Nakashima went toe-to-toe in the second set, outlasting the No. 7 player in the world in a 10-8 tiebreaker to knot the match at a set apiece. Nakashima had his serve broken once in the third set, falling 6-3 before Zverev closed out the match with a 6-1 win in the fourth set.
Kwiatkowski won his first set against South Korea’s Soonwoo Kwon, but Kwon rallied to win 3-6, 7-6(4), 6-1, 6-2. Kwon is currently ranked No. 71 in the world.
Both Kwiatkowski and Nakashima were awarded wild cards into the main draw by the US Tennis Association.
This was Kwiatkowski’s second time playing in the men’s singles main draw at the US Open after playing in 2017, taking Mischa Zverev to five sets in their first-round match. Kwiatkowski played in the main draw of the 2019 US Open doubles tournament.
This will be Nakashima’s first time playing in the US Open. He recently competed in World TeamTennis (WTT) for the Chicago Smash and gave an impressive performance, with wins over American ATP pros Steve Johnson, Sam Querrey, Ryan Harrison and Tommy Paul. He beat two-time Australian Open quarterfinalist Tennys Sandgren, 5-1, leading the Smash into the WTT Final, and he blanked three-time Grand Slam doubles champion Jack Sock, 5-0, in the final, as the Smash fell to Sock’s New York Empire on the final point.
Additionally, Dominic Inglot will be playing in the doubles draw. He and partner Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi faced the American tandem of Jack Sock and Jackson Withrow in the opening round, being edged 6-7 (5), 7-6 (2), 7-6 (5) . This was Inglot’s ninth-consecutive US Open appearance. His best showing was a run to the semifinals in 2015.
This will be the 44th consecutive Grand Slam event in which at least one former UVA men’s tennis player has competed.