By Jim Henry
jhenry@joplinglobe.com
Saving his best tennis for last, No. 2-seeded Daniel Garza outlasted Sheeva Parbhu in the first round of the USTA Freeman Men’s $10,000 Futures Tournament.
Garza, from Mexico and No. 648 in the ATP world rankings, edged Parbhu 7-6 (7-4), 4-6, 7-5 in a three-hour baseline battle at the Millennium Tennis and Fitness Club.
“I didn’t really know what to expect. I’d never seen this guy play before,” Parbhu said. “You come out every time expecting to be out there as long as it takes.”
Garza broke Parbhu’s serve to snap a 5-5 deadlock in the final set, then won his serve at love to conclude the match.
“I played very bad early in the match, and I played very well the last two games,” Garza said. “It’s a win ... I’ll play better next time.”
“The whole third set, I thought he picked up his level a little bit,” Parbhu said. “I just couldn’t. I’m not match-tough enough right now I guess to raise my level with him, and that’s where he really separated himself.”
Parbhu wasn’t surprised trips to the net were few and far between.
“These courts are pretty slow,” he said. “He’s from Mexico, and those guys aren’t really known for getting to the net a lot. My game style, I don’t really get to the net a lot. I knew coming in there weren’t going to be a ton of volleys.”
Parbhu, who won two state championships at Omaha (Neb.) Millard High School, just graduated from Notre Dame. His 121-39 career record is the fifth most singles victories in school history.
Just one seeded player lost his opening-round match on Tuesday. Blake Strode, the No. 1 player for the Arkansas Razorbacks, knocked off sixth-seeded Weerapat Doakmaiklee of Thailand 6-3, 6-3.
Straight-set victories went to top-seeded Adriano Biasella of Italy over Benjamin Rogers, No. 4 Nicolas Santos of Brazil over Nathaniel Schnugg, No. 5 Adam Thompson of New Zealand over Kirati Siributwong and No. 7 Tigran Martirosyan of Armenia over Sahr Timothy Kpulun.
Jean-Yves Aubone, the No. 1 player at Florida State and the winner of last week’s Futures event in Peoria, Ill., ousted Millennium pro Diego Camacho 6-2, 6-2.
“I played a little better (than in Tuesday’s doubles match),” Camacho said. “As the match was going farther and farther, I was getting more tired, more tired. My legs did not respond.”
In doubles quarterfinals, top-seeded Biasella-Garza won a 10-8 tiebreaker to beat Austin Krajicek-Conor Pollock.
Robbye Poole-Michael Venus, the No. 3 seed, became the third high seed to fall as they lost to Travis Helgeson-Jamie Hunt 7-5, 7-6 (7-3).
Today’s doubles semifinals pair Biasella-Garza vs. Doakmaiklee-Siributwong at 3 p.m., and in a collegiate matchup, Helgeson-Hunt from Georgia vs. Steven Forman-Cory Parr from Wake Forest.
On Wednesday tournament officials announced the doubles final has been moved up to 5:30 p.m. Friday.
The singles final is set for 11 a.m. Sunday.
Admission is free throughout the tournament. All proceeds will be donated to the Children’s Miracle Network.
