Two all-American matches headline Wednesday’s schedule that will see the first quarterfinalists confirmed at the Fayez Sarofim & Co. U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championship.
Top seed Frances Tiafoe faces two-time River Oaks champion Steve Johnson in one of the all-USA battles while No. 5 seed JJ Wolf will take on Denis Kudla in the other. A third American, 2013 US Clay winner John Isner, will face Houston-born Dutchman Gijs Brouwer in the evening session.
Johnson, who won back-to-back US Clay titles in 2017-18, owns a 2-0 head-to-head advantage over Tiafoe, with both those wins coming on clay. The first was a straight sets win here at River Oaks in 2018, and the second came in five sets at the French Open in 2021.
Wolf and Kudla will be meeting for the first time in an ATP match, but they have split four previous meetings in Challengers.
Isner, who has reached the quarterfinals in eight of his 12 US Clay appearances, including his last four in a row, will meet Brouwer who won his first ATP match at US Clay in 2022 and advanced to the quarterfinals as a qualifier.
The other second round match on the schedule features 2019 US Clay quarterfinalist Daniel Elahi Galan taking on No. 6 seed Jason Kubler.
Max Purcell, who turned 24 on Monday, made a name for himself in doubles last year, winning both the US Clay and Wimbledon titles with fellow Australian Matt Ebden. This season, it’s his singles play that is grabbing headlines. He’s reached a career high ranking this week after winning three titles and reaching one other final at the Challenger level this season. He will face Daniel Altmaier in the last first round singles match.
All four doubles quarterfinals are also on Wednesday’s schedule.
Matches will be available to watch on the ESPN App.