Local favourite Brandon Nakashima won an all-American match on Tuesday night at the Barnes Tennis Center while competing in the San Diego Open for the second time.
Zachary Svajda, a 19-year-old wild card from the adjacent city of La Jolla, was defeated by Nakashima by scores of 7-5 and 7-6(5). Nakashima fought back from 3/5 in the tie-break to win in straight sets after saving three set points at 4-5 in the second set and failing to serve out the match at 6-5.
The World No. 69 won his first competitive match since losing to Jannik Sinner in the third round of the US Open, a match in which he took the first set before losing in four. Nakashima, who entered the Top 50 in the Pepperstone ATP Rakings in July, might go up as high as position 44 by winning his maiden ATP Tour championship this week.
In his first appearance in San Diego a year ago, he advanced to the second round, beating Fabio Fognini in three sets in a comeback, but lost to Andrey Rublev at the ATP 250.