U.S. men flop in French Open qualifying

Denis Kudla was the only American man out of
seven to win today in the first round of French
Open qualifying. File photo by Paul Bauman

   American men went 1-6 today in the first round of qualifying for the French Open in Paris.
   No. 7 seed Denis Kudla of Arlington, Va., and Tampa, Fla., topped Guilherme Clezar of Brazil 6-3, 6-7 (1), 7-5 in 2 hours, 23 minutes.
   Losing were No. 11 Tim Smyczek, San Jose product Dennis Novikov, Ernesto Escobedo, Donald Young, Evan King and Christopher Eubanks.
   Duckhee Lee of South Korea beat Novikov, a 24-year-old former UCLA standout who lives in Los Angeles, 6-2, 6-2.
   Four more U.S. men will play their qualifying openers on Tuesday: ex-Stanford All-American Bradley Klahn, 6-foot-11 (2.11-meter) Reilly Opelka, Stefan Kozlov and Kevin King.
   Women's qualifying will begin Tuesday, with two other former Stanford stars scheduled to play. No. 8 Nicole Gibbs of Venice in the Los Angeles area will face Han Xinyun of China, and No. 23 Carol Zhao of Canada will take on 37-year-old Italian Francesca Schiavone, the 2010 champion.