by Hanlon Walsh
Tuesday concluded first round play at the 2025 Fayez Sarofim & Co. Championships with many “firsts” for several players in action, including a pair of young American stars. Collectively, 10 Americans advanced to the second round, tying the most U.S. first round winners at US Clay since 2022.
Leading Tuesday’s American charge was 21-year-old Ethan Quinn, who notched his biggest career win, first top 50 win, and debut ATP clay match win over Australian veteran, Jordan Thompson, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3.
“That was a unique experience getting my first clay win. I’m not too comfortable out there and had a few slips and near falls. It was nice to get revenge on Jordan - he beat me a long time ago on the Challenger Tour when I was much younger.” - Ethan Quinn
Quinn, the 2023 NCAA champion from University of Georgia next faces a familiar opponent in Colton Smith, the 22-year-old Arizona senior who advanced to the second round through qualifying and also scored his first ATP clay match win on Tuesday.
“It feels pretty amazing to get the win today. I wasn’t expecting much coming into this week - my last match on clay was over five years ago. To win two matches and qualify was a big win in itself, but to go a step further and get my first ATP main draw win on clay today feels really special.” - Colton Smith
The American success on Tuesday didn’t stop with the youngsters, however. On his injury comeback trail, 29-year-old Mackie McDonald outlasted clay specialist, Daniel Elahi Galan, 6-2, 6-7, 6-4 to set up a second-round clash against No. 4 seed Brandon Nakashima.
“Fortunately I have a good record against Brandon on hard courts - we’ll see how it goes on the clay. He’s a good buddy of mine and I know his game pretty well. I’ll try to prepare for that as best as I can and am looking forward to a great match.” - Mackie McDonald
In the evening session on Stadium Court, 28-year-old Chris Eubanks scored his first clay win in nearly seven years over Rinky Hijikata 6-2, 4-6, 6-3.
“Rinky is always going to compete well no matter what. He was doing a good job floating the balls high and deep at me and the errors started to flow. I started misfiring a bit and the tension was building, but I was happy with how I regrouped after the second set and finished the third set out on a strong note. The past few days, I’ve started to feel really comfortable on clay, which is the first time in my career that I can actually say that.” - Chris Eubanks
Rounding out Tuesday’s singles action included a pair of wins from Adrian Mannarino and Adam Walton. Mannarino, a lucky loser from qualifying who replaced Nicolas Moreno De Alboran, made the most of his opportunity with a straight-set victory over Yannick Hanfmann, 7-6, 6-3. Walton, the 2021 NCAA doubles champion for University of Tennessee, dispatched American wildcard Michael Mmoh 6-3, 7-6.
Harrison and King’s Doubles Train Comes to a Halt
The doubles game’s razor thin margins took full effect as the first two matches were decided by just a few points in the match tie-breaker.
In Tuesday’s biggest doubles upset, Americans Ryan Seggerman and Patrick Trhac edged the red-hot duo of Christian Harrison and Evan King 6-2, 1-6, 14-12. The occasion marked the first opening round loss for Harrison and King since January, who have since won 15 of their last 21 matches with two titles and one final under their belt.
Other doubles victories came from Aussies Matthew Christopher Romios and Walton, who defeated Mackie McDonald and Alex Michelsen, as well as Federico Agustin Gomez and Santiago Gonzalez, who eliminated N.Sriram Balaji and Miguel Reyes-Varela.
