Buchanan's Poise Gets Him Through First Round; Australian Open Wildcard Playoff Day 1 Recap

After watching Buchanan play in person at the CRC Invitational in Cleveland this summer, watching him at Charlottesville and watching him today, the thing that stuck out with me is that he doesn't get frustrated and stays calm no matter what the situation is. An attribute like this to one's game can get them through tough matches against higher ranked, "better" opponents. This is in part what happened today in the first round of the Australian Open Wildcard Playoff that took place in Norcross, Georgia. Buchanan lost the first set 6-4 to Rhyne Williams, the 2 seed here and a Tennessee graduate. Down in the 2nd set, Rhyne Williams started to get frustrated resulting in him throwing a racquet (and getting a code violation). Buchanan went on to win the 2nd set in a tiebreak, that led to Williams looking like he was giving up. Williams was just slapping that ball and kept slicing a bunch where Buchanan took care of business while staying focused to close out the match, winning 4-6, 7-6, 6-2. While Williams was out throwing his fit, it took a lot for Buchanan to focus on his game and keep going. But the Ohio State graduate did just that in order to create a first round upset, according to tournament seeding and ATP World Tour Ranking (Buchanan was the 7th seed). Buchanan will play 2-Time NCAA Singles Champion Steve Johnson in the 2nd round, who defeated Bjorn Fratangelo. Both the top seed Denis Kudla and Tennys Sandgren took care of business easily, as they defeated Jarmere Jenkins and Austin Krajicek respectively. Here are my picks for Saturday's semifinals:

Sandgren def. Kudla
Buchanan def. Johnson

                               My picture with Buchanan at the CRC Invitational this summer
                                                  (yes, I know I need to charge my phone)
                                                                      
Both these matchups will be close, so who knows. I may be right on both, I may be wrong on both. Hopefully my 3-1 record (from my first round picks) will stay above .500 after Saturday's action. And I'm especially hoping Buchanan takes home this title now that he took out last year's champion. Go Bucks!