Paul defeats Bangoura at Oracle

NEW HAVEN — On Thursday, American Tommy Paul faced a familiar foe in fellow American Sekou Bangoura in the third round of the Oracle Challenger Series.

The players faced each other twice before, Bangoura won both times, and Paul did not want to be his daddy.

“Me and some of my tennis friends have this thing,” Paul, 22, said. “If a tennis player goes 30 against you, you become their daddy. That was not going to happen in this tournament, I was not going to be Sekou’s daddy today.”

While he prevailed in a hardfought second set,

Paul also credited a perfect storm of events that led to a turnaround this time against Bangoura and a 61, 75 win — Pepe’s pizza, the NFL kicking off its season Thursday night, a good night’s sleep, perfect tennis weather, and more tennis experience.

“The last time we played was about two years ago,” said the No. 6 seeded Paul. “Since then I’ve become more experienced and I’m playing better tennis. It was also a little cool today and for me that’s perfect tennis playing weather.

“Two other things really had me pumped up to play well today. I heard a lot about Pepe’s Pizzza and I tried it Wednesday night. It was unbelievable and I think it actually helped me get a good night’s sleep. I’m a huge NFL fan, I’m in a couple fantasy leagues and I can’t wait to watch the Green BayChicago game (Thursday night). I believe all of those things contributed to my win.”

Paul, ranked No. 114 in

the world, advanced to the quarterfinals and will face Bradley Klahn Friday at 10 a.m. on Court 2.

Also contributing to the perfect storm and Paul’s win was being healthy. He missed a lot of tennis earlier this year due to a nagging left knee injury.

“I took the end of January, all of February and most of March off from tennis,” Paul said. “Since then I’ve been healthy, I felt really good today.”

Paul cruised through the first set against the No.4 seeded Bangoura. Paul went ahead 41 in the second set, but Bangoura kicked his game into another gear to tie the set at 4. They held serve the next two games for a 55 tie.

Paul, who grew up in

North Carolina and now resides in Boca Raton, Florida, began sending smashing backhands deep into the left corner. Bangoura couldn’t catch up to the shots. Paul held serve for a 65 lead. On Bangoura’s serve the game went to deuce twice. On the second deuce, Bangoura double faulted and Paul hit a winning game, set, and match point to clinch the win.

“I played lights out in that first set and a lot of calls went my way,” Paul said. “But after I went up 41 in the second set, Sekou picked up his level and started playing his usual good tennis. He made it a real challenge.”

This year, Paul reached the finals of the Tallahassee Challenge (runnerup) and won the Sarasota Challenger. He also made it to the first round of the French Open and second round of

qualifying at the Australian Open.

His focus for the rest of the year?

“The only goal I have is to keep winning,” Paul said. “This is my first time in

New Haven and I like it here. I want to come back. The tournament is run well, playing at Yale is pretty nice and I love Pepe’s.”

Comeback kid: American Lauren Davis said comebacks in tennis happen all the time. She pulled off the best one of the day in her third round match with American Varvara Lepchenko.

Lepchenko won the first set 64. The momentum switched big time for No. 3 seeded Davis who pulled off a 60 win in the second set.

The third set was a microcosm of the first two sets. There were five breaks in the first five games with Lepchenko taking a 32 lead.

Lepchenko held her serve in the next game to take a 42 lead.

The comeback kid of the day responded by winning the last four games to clinch the match 46, 60, 64.

“I sensed the momentum changing at the end of the first set and I was confident it would carry into the second set,” said Davis, who was ranked as high as No. 30. “I saw she was getting tired and I wanted to take advantage of that in the second set.

“We kept breaking each other and that’s a credit to her. But I kind of played loosely and that helped. Tennis tournaments in New Haven have always been nice. I like coming here.”

Davis, who has won three matches at the WTA tournament in New Haven, will face Pauline Parmentier in the quarterfinals Friday at 10 a.m. on Court 1.