The American doubles team of Nathaniel Lammons and Jackson Withrow refuse to give up their title just yet at the Winston-Salem Open.
The duo came in as the defending champions and are still around for the semifinals after beating Rafael Matos and Marcelo Melo 7-6 (1), 6-7 (4), 11-9 in one of the closest matches in the tournament.
“It was a really tight battle, and it was good to get through,” Lammons said after Thursday afternoon’s win. “It was a familiar face. We’ve seen Melo three of the last four weeks, and we played him with Matos in D.C., so it’s always tricky to play a team again.”
The super tiebreaker turned in Lammons and Withrow’s favor thanks to several key service breaks.
“I thought we were confident and getting breaks on their serve when we needed it,” Lammons said. “That’s why we were decisive at key points, but it was just kind of a coin flip at the end.”
Lammons and Withrow are trying to become the first doubles team to win consecutive titles at the Winston-Salem Open since Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau won in 2017 and ’18.
“To be honest, I think we had more opportunities than they did,” Lammons said. “I think we had some looks at their serves in both sets and we were lucky to get one to stay in the second there.”
The two Americans, who are the fourth seed in the tournament, are quite comfortable here and it’s showed.
“It’s always good when you can play multiple matches in a week,” Lammons said. “I think the conditions here in Winston are great and I’ve won all three matches on the same court, but now we’ll be on the Stadium Court against the Wake guys and the crowd will be against us, but I’m looking forward to that battle.”
In the late match on Friday in the semifinals, Lammons and Withrow will take on the current Wake Forest students who were wild card entries. Luca Pow and DK Suresh, who were scouting their opponents on Thursday, won their second straight match on Wednesday to clinch the semifinal berth.
Also continuing to hang around in singles is the highest remaining seeded player in 10th-seeded Lorenzo Sonego, who bested 15th-seeded Pavel Kotov 6-3, 7-5 on Thursday afternoon.
The top nine seeds were all upset in the first two rounds, but Sonego, a 29-year-old Italian who is ranked 58th, is getting closer to his fourth ATP title of his career. He’s been to 10 semifinals in since turning pro in 2013.
“This is my first (semifinal) this year and I played very well today,” Sonego said. “I played him twice before, with once this year and once last year so I’m really proud of myself with my game.”
Sonego said he changed his game plan a little bit against Kotov.
“I was a little more aggressive,” Sonego said about his serve and his return.
Sonego caught a break when he got to the quarterfinals when Juncheng Shang pulled out of the tournament. This gave Sonego an extra day of rest.
“I’m happy because I played just two matches and I’m in the semifinal and I feel good,” Sonego said. “I’m going to focus on the semifinal and then the U.S. Open (next week) and I’m going to put all my energy out on the court so we’ll see.”
As for catching the break with the extra rest, Sonego said he’s rather play.
“I’d prefer to play because I can test my tennis,” Sonego said. “But we have to play a lot next week (in the U.S. Open).”
He faces David Goffin who dismissed Rinky Hijikata in just more than an hour 6-1, 6-3. They are the first of the two singles semifinals on Friday slated to begin not before 4 p.m.
