US seventh seed Donald Young crashed out in the first round of the ATP Hall of Fame Championships on Monday while American sixth seed Ryan Harrison barely avoided an early ouster as well. American Michael Russell rallied to eliminate Young 1-6, 6-1, 6-4 in an opening-round match at the $398,250 grass-court event. Harrison battled for two hours and 48 minutes before escaping Belgian Ruben Bemelmans 7-6 (10/8), 6-7 (5/7), 7-5. Next up for Harrison is either Australian Marinko Matosevic or American Jesse Levine while Russell booked a second-round date with either American Rajeev Ram or Grega Zemlja of Slovenia. France’s Nicholas Mahut outlasted Swiss Marco Chiudinelli 6-0, 7-6 (7/2), to potentially book a second-round match against US top seed John Isner, who must defeat Ukranian qualifier Sergei Bubka to face Mahut in round two. Mahut and Isner could meet in a rematch of their 2010 Wimbledon encounter that became the longest match in tennis history. Isner defeated Mahut 6-4, 3-6, 6-7 (7/9), 7-6 (7/3), 70-68 after just over 11 hours of play over three days. Belgium’s Olivier Rochus outlasted Japan’s Go Soeda 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 and could face another Japanese player, second seed Kei Nishikori, in the second round. Nishikori opens against Dutchman Igor Sijsling. Israel’s Dudi Sela defeated Canada’s Frank Dancevic 6-0, 6-2 and American Jack Sock beat Russian Igor Kunitsyn 7-5, 1-6, 6-4 in other opening matches.
