“The Haas! The Haas! The Haas is on fire!”
A fan in the midst of the north stands of Straus Stadium could easily be heard shouting these words of encouragement to top-seeded Tommy Haas after the German native won the opening game of his second-round singles match against American long shot Jesse Levine at the 2009 LA Tennis Open.
Haas was in control of the match from start to finish as expected. He went on to take the second set 6-3, earning him a spot in the quarterfinals where he will face Russian Marat Safin, the tournament’s No. 8 seed.
“I think I played pretty well considering it was my first match after Wimbledon,” Haas said. “I knew it was going to be a complicated match. To play a young guy like Jesse, at night, in Los Angeles, is never an easy match to start a tournament.”
Haas said he was worried that, despite his high seeding, he would face a surprising upset.
“I had a bad experience last year in my first round in Los Angeles losing to Donald Young. It was a similar situation, playing at night, against a young, talented kid. I remember I played a terrible match, and he beat me in two sets.”
Haas was in no such danger tonight, holding serve the entire match while breaking Levine’s four times. In fact, Levine failed to force Haas to a single break point. Haas’ dominant service game was key in the victory.
Levine came back with a strong service game of his own. He made several impressive winners and quite a few service aces, most of which clocked around 120-125 mph on the radar gun. In the second game, which Levine won without dropping a point, he ripped a backhand winner down the line and had two consecutive aces that left Haas in the dust.
However, his quick use of official challenges only led to quicken his demise.
Levine burned all three of his first-set challenges in the first four games ““ two long serves and a long line shot ““ and it came back to haunt him the very next point after he used his final challenge. The chair umpire overruled a linesman and called Haas’ shot as in.
“I think I let the crowd affect some of my challenges,” Levine said. “I definitely learned the hard way on that one. It wouldn’t have made a difference in the first set, but at least it would have made things closer, you know?”
Levine never came close to taking a game off his more renowned adversary, and Haas claimed the first set 6-1.
“The Haas! The Haas! The Haas is on fire!”
The fan was at it again. Haas won five straight games to close out the first set, and his most vociferous supporter made sure everybody knew just how “on fire” he was.
The 31-year-old Haas opened the second set strongly, wowing the crowd at Straus Stadium with two straight impressive winners off two Levine overhand shots that looked destined for the wall. Haas lost the first game, but those two points showcased the firepower Haas was yet to bring.
“He played well, and I definitely didn’t play my best,” Levine said. “But you know, life goes on, and I’m ready to keep going and keep plugging away.”
Haas won the first break of the second set at 3-2, at which point the match was essentially over. Haas nailed a perfect drop shot to go up 5-3, and Levine sent an apparent overhand winner into the net to go down love-30 in the next game to virtually seal his fate.
“The Haas! The Haas! The Haas is on fire!”
Haas will be looking to ride that fire into his match against Safin.
Full results from day 3:
Second-round singles:
Tommy Haas (1) def. Jesse Levine 6-1, 6-3
Carsten Ball def. Dmitry Tursunov (3) 6-4, 0-1 Retired (left ankle)
Marat Safin (8) def. Ernests Gulbis 2-6, 6-3, 6-4
John Isner def. Marcos Baghdatis 6-3, 7-6 (13-11)
First-round doubles:
Bob Bryan / Mike Bryan (1) def. Carsten Ball / Kaes Van’t Hof 7-5, 6-2
Ernests Gulbis / Dmitry Tursunov def. Bruno Soares / Kevin Ullyett (2) 6-2, 6-4
Jeff Coetzee / Jonathan Erlich def. Martin Damm / Robert Lindstedt (3) 6-4, 6-4
Marcelo Melo / Andre Sa def. Robby Ginepri / Jordan Kerr 6-3, 6-2
Benjamin Becker / Frank Moser def. John Isner / Sam Querrey (Isner withdrew before match because of injury in previous match)
Denis Istomin / Leonardo Mayer def. Eric Butorac / Scott Lipsky 7-6 (7-5), 6-7 (6-4), 10-4
Order of play for Thursday:
Straus Stadium noon
Dudi Sela (4) v. Robert Kendrick
Not before 2 p.m.
Ryan Sweeting v. Sam Querrey (6) to be broadcast on Tennis Channel
Not before 3:30 p.m.
Bob Bryan / Mike Bryan (1) v. Igor Kunitsyn / Marat Safin to be broadcast on Tennis Channel
Not before 7:30 p.m.
Chris Guccione v. Mardy Fish (2) to be broadcast on ESPN2
Legends match: Michael Chang v. Stefan Edberg
Grandstand court noon
Igor Kunitsyn (5) v. Leonardo Mayer
Jeff Coetzee / Jonathan Erlich v. Marcelo Melo / Andre Sa
Denis Istomin / Leonardo Mayer v. Ernests Gulbis / Dmitry Tursunov
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