By Matthew Hursh                          Photo Credit: Daniel Huerlimann/ Beelde

(July 18, 2011) In the early stages of the US Open Series, Americans in the ATP world have moved to Atlanta, GA tp ply their trade on the hard courts in the South. And on this initial day in Atlanta, it wasn’t the best day for the young Americans who look to be the future of tennis in the USA.

While big names like Mardy Fish and John Isner were awarded first round byes, a number of the lower-ranked players had to battle it out to claim a second round appearance by winning on court on Monday.

And on this day, the highest ranked player in action, Alex Bogomolov Jr., fell to tour veteran Gilles Muller by a score of 6-3, 7-6 (6).

Bogomolov Jr., a 28-year-old Russian-born player with American citizenship, is currently ranked his highest ever at 62 in the world after beating World No. 21 Juan Ignacio Chela en route to a third round appearance at Wimbledon weeks ago. However, Bogomolov Jr. struggled in his first hard court match of the season, succumbing to the Luxembourgian in a match where he produce just one break point in 11 return games.

The American was stopped suddenly in one of the best runs of his career by the experienced Muller, who reached the third round at Wimbledon as well before losing to eventual runner-up Rafael Nadal. Muller now awaits the winner of the match between wild cards Robby Ginepri and Tommy Haas in the second round in Atlanta.

Promising Americans continued to falter in Georgia as 24-year-old Ryan Sweeting lost to eighth seeded Somdev Devarrman 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 in a match with a total of 11 breaks of serve. But the Indian produced one more break than the American to clinch a second round match-up against Tatsuma Ito, who beat Michael Berrer in straight sets of Monday to move on.

To continue the theme of the day, the man who was once deemed the savior of American tennis, Donald Young, suffered a disappointing 6-0, 6-3 loss to fellow American Michael Russell in the city Young now calls home.

Although Young is a talented player, errors are often his undoing. The same proved to be true against Russell, a 33-year-old battle tested grinder who broke Young’s serve in five of seven tries. Russell now advances to a second round match against second seed Kevin Anderson of South Africa.

Another American veteran, James Blake, claimed victory on Monday against dangerous Latvian Ernests Gulbis, whom he ousted with a close 5-7, 7-6 (5), 6-2 win.

Normally a player who commands play with his serve, Blake made just 49 percent of his first serves against Gulbis, which helped the Latvian produce a staggering 20 break points in the match. However, the former World No. 4 broke the Latvian’s spirit by fighting off 17 of those chances, allowing Blake to secure a second round appearance in Atlanta. Blake will play John Isner in the second round.

First round play in Atlanta will continue on Tuesday.