Rhyne Williams posts breakout week in Houston

Rhyne Williams had quite the showing at the US Clay Court Championships in Houston this week as he reached his first ever ATP Semifinal before falling to Nicolas Almagro.

Williams, 22, had some Texas success under his belt already this year as he won a Challenger event in Dallas a few months back and it was apparent from the first ball of the tournament that he felt comfortable in the Lone Star State.

Williams had a tight straight sets, 7-5, 7-5 win over the Argentine Guido Pella in the first round which propelled to a matchup with the massive serving Ivo Karlovic of Croatia in the Second Round.

Williams was able to grind out a 6-4, 6-7(5), 7-6(3) despite only breaking the mammoth Karlovic serve once.  Williams was never broken as he found ways to counterpunch Karlovic's 28 aces and racing into the Quarterfinals in 2 hours, 39 minutes.

Photo via AP
Williams caught fire in Houston, reaching his first ever ATP Semifinal.

In the Quarterfinals Williams was put to the test against 35 year old Spanish veteran Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo before pulling through in a tough, long three setter 7-6(1), 1-6, 6-4.  After eking out a tight first set, Williams then went on to drop 9 of 10 games before coming back from a break down in the third set to reach his first ever ATP World Tour Semifinal.

The Semifinals would be a little bit of a different story for the young American, as Nicolas Almagro, one of the top clay court players in the world, laid the wood on Williams 6-2, 6-1 in exactly one hour.  Williams was clearly physically taxed coming into the match but he showed a high level of physical toughness pulling through some long, tight matches in rounds prior just to reach the Semifinals.

Not only was this a confidence booster for Williams, but also a bank account and ranking points booster as well.  Williams leaves Houston with a check for $23,475 and 90 ranking points, which puts him at a career high ranking of 117.