TENNIS in DEPTH.

France’s top seed Gianni Mina, a clay court specialist, had to work hard to beat lucky loser Nikolai Haessig of Canada to earn his place in the second round at the 2009 Dunlop Orange Bowl. World No 5 Mina, who looks like his fellow-countryman Gael Monfils, made a slow start, going a break down, but managed to claw his way back to secure the first set. The decisive set saw the Frenchman find the best form with powerful forehands, and go on to win 75 46 64. “I’m really so happy because this match was very difficult – said Mina – I was very tired. It was my first match in three months outside with a big sun.”

The biggest upset of the day in boys’ draw was Mina’s compatriot, second seed Pierre-Hugues Herbert, who lost 63 62 to American wild card Jack Sock. Sock, the 17-year-old from Lincoln, Nebraska, has played just two junior tournaments this year, including the US Open Junior Championships, when he reached the third round. He has had a good run in the professional tour, winning an ITF Futures in Amelia Island, Florida, last month. Sock served well, to win the match in straight sets and will now go on to play qualifier James Marsalek of Great Britain in the second round.

It wasn’t until he was 8 years old — ancient by junior tennis standards — that Jack Sock first picked up a racket. His mother, Pam, was in a tennis league, so she had rackets around the house. Sock and his older brother, Eric, grabbed a few and started hitting. A love affair was born. Sock took to the game remarkably quickly, and was soon beating older kids from all over the state. By age 10, he and his brother were training in Kansas City at the Mike Wolf Tennis Academy.

Sock is now 17 and is one of the most promising U.S. juniors.

In the top half of the boys’ draw, the winner of last week’s Eddie Herr tournament, seventh seed Denis Kudla (USA), swept aside France’s Romain Arneodo 64 63. Both No 4 Marton Fucsovicz of Hungary and No 6 Guillherme Clezar of Brazil made a good start in their campaigns at the Dunlop Orange Bowl by posting first round easy victories over Friedriche Saba of USA 63 62 and Lewis Burton of Great Britain 63 60, respectively. In the bottom half of the draw, fifth seed and Yucatan Cup champion, American Mitchell Frank, disposed of Dovydas Sakinis of Lithuania in straight sets, while No 3, hard-hitting Kevin Krawietz of Germany, clinched a 64 63 win over qualifier Juan Pablo Gomez of Colombia.

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