Mmoh wins showdown to reach Tiburon main draw

Michael Mmoh, shown last month in the U.S. Open, will meet
fellow American Tennys Sandgren today in the first round of
the $100,000 Tiburon Challenger. Photo by Paul Bauman

   The first meeting in what could develop into one of the world's top rivalries went to Michael Mmoh.
   The 18-year-old American beat second-seeded Denis Shapovalov, a 17-year-old Canadian, 6-4, 6-4 on Monday in the final round of qualifying for the $100,000 Wells Fargo Tiburon Challenger at the Tiburon Peninsula Club.
   Tiburon is located across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco.
   Mmoh, a 6-foot-1 (1.85-meter) right-hander with a two-handed backhand, won the USTA boys 18 national singles title last month to earn an automatic wild card in the U.S. Open. He lost to 55th-ranked Jeremy Chardy of France 6-4, 6-4, 6-1 in the first round at Flushing Meadows.
   Shapovalov, a 6-foot (1.83-meter) left-hander with a one-handed backhand, took the Wimbledon boys singles crown in July and stunned 19th-ranked Nick Kyrgios in the opening round at Toronto later that month.
   Mmoh will face 25-year-old countryman Tennys Sandgren, a semifinalist at last week's $50,000 Columbus (Ohio) Challenger, for the second time today after a 10 a.m. match.
   Sandgren, a former Tennessee All-American, defeated Mmoh 7-5, 6-3 in the first round of a $25,000 Futures tournament in Los Angeles in January.
   The Tiburon main draw began Monday. All four seeds in action won, but only No. 6 Stefan Kozlov of Pembroke Pines, Fla., coasted. No. 2 Bjorn Fratangelo and No. 4 Frances Tiafoe, both of Boca Raton, Fla., and No. 8 Quentin Halys of France survived in three sets.
   Kozlov, Tiafoe and Halys, a Tiburon semifinalist last year, are teenagers. Fratangelo, a quarterfinalist the past two years, is 23.
   Highlighting today's schedule, No. 3 seed and defending champion Tim Smyczek of Tampa, Fla., will play qualifier Brydan Klein of Great Britain after a 10 a.m. match, and No. 1 seed Benjamin Becker of Germany will face Tommy Paul, yet another U.S. teenager, not before 3 p.m.
   Becker, 35, reached the Columbus final as the top seed but lost to Danish wild card Mikael Torpegaard 6-4, 1-6, 6-2. Torpegaard, a junior at Ohio State, was playing on his home court.
   The Tiburon Challenger is being streamed live. Here are the singles qualifying draw, singles main draw, doubles main draw and today's schedule.