Several regionals opened up today and it didn't take long for a few upsets to take place with the #1, #6, and #7 seeds getting beat in the 1st round of the Ohio Valley Regional in Knoxville.
Indiana senior Elliott Yee pulled off the biggest upset when he beat the #1 seed Kentucky's Beck Pennington 6-3, 6-4 in the 1st round. This was also a Universal Tennis Rating (UTR) upset as well with Yee having a 11.91 UTR while Pennington's is 13.71.
Purdue junior Ricky Medinilla (12.66) upended the #6 seed Vanderbilt's Rhys Johnson (13.35) 3-6, 6-1, 7-5 in the 1st round and Austin Peay junior Aaron Jumonville (12.29) knocked out the #7 seed Indiana's Daniel Bednarczyk (13.05) 7-5, 7-6(6).
The #1 seed in the Central Regional (Fayetteville, AR) also got upset as Nebraska's Andrew Dzulynsky (12.18) took out #1 Minnesota's Matic Spec (14.03) 6-4, 6-4 in the 2nd round. All other seeds players advanced to the 3rd round in Fayetteville.
PlaySight
Thursday, October 15, 2015
Wednesday, October 14, 2015
USTA/ITA Regional Championships (Updated Draws)
Over the next 2 weeks regional championships will be held in every ITA region with the champion of each advancing to next month's National Indoor Intercollegiate Championship which will held at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York.
Below is the list of regionals that are taking place this week with the others being played the following week. The ITA's page below also has the same list and they should have draws added in as well. I'll add them in too as they become available.
Below is the list of regionals that are taking place this week with the others being played the following week. The ITA's page below also has the same list and they should have draws added in as well. I'll add them in too as they become available.
Tuesday, October 13, 2015
NCAA D1 Tennis Committee Meeting Recap
A few months back the NCAA Division 1 Men's and Women's Tennis Committee had its annual meeting to discuss different topics/items for the upcoming season. The information is available to the general public on ncaa.org but it can be tough to find so I figured I'd share the report here and talk about some of the interesting things that they discussed.
Below are the conferences whose champions are guaranteed a bid into the 64-team NCAA Tournament. The Southland (Texas A&M Corpus Christi, Lamar, New Orleans, Nicholls St, Abilene Christian, Incarnate Word) was granted a waiver to get a bid despite only having 4 eligible teams last season. Both Abilene Christian and Incarnate Word recently made the move from Division 2 to Division 1 and thus are ineligible for postseason play until the 2017-18 season.
In its review of the 2015 NCAA Championships they talked about needing to spruce up the selection show with more commentary about specific match-ups. They also mentioned that travel distance and conference opponent restrictions played a role in where teams were placed in the bracket (not new).
Below are the conferences whose champions are guaranteed a bid into the 64-team NCAA Tournament. The Southland (Texas A&M Corpus Christi, Lamar, New Orleans, Nicholls St, Abilene Christian, Incarnate Word) was granted a waiver to get a bid despite only having 4 eligible teams last season. Both Abilene Christian and Incarnate Word recently made the move from Division 2 to Division 1 and thus are ineligible for postseason play until the 2017-18 season.
In its review of the 2015 NCAA Championships they talked about needing to spruce up the selection show with more commentary about specific match-ups. They also mentioned that travel distance and conference opponent restrictions played a role in where teams were placed in the bracket (not new).
Monday, October 12, 2015
Thai-Son Kwiatkowski Rolls To All-American Singles & Doubles Championship
Virginia's Thai-Son Kwiatkowski is the 2015 Saint Francis Health System ITA Men's All-American Singles Champion after routing Tulane's Dominik Koepfer 6-0, 6-2 in the finals in a match that took around 55 minutes to complete.
Kwiatkowski was in control from start to finish by working Koepfer from side-to-side and more points than not ended with a Koepfer miss with many coming off the forehand wing. Kwiatkowski played great defense but also hit some huge forehands to finish off several games.
3 of Koepfer's 7 service games went to the deciding 40-40 point and he lost all 3. Koepfer struggled at the net and lost 3 different games on a volley that he either mishit or didn't place well enough.
Kwiatkowski was in control from start to finish by working Koepfer from side-to-side and more points than not ended with a Koepfer miss with many coming off the forehand wing. Kwiatkowski played great defense but also hit some huge forehands to finish off several games.
3 of Koepfer's 7 service games went to the deciding 40-40 point and he lost all 3. Koepfer struggled at the net and lost 3 different games on a volley that he either mishit or didn't place well enough.
Sunday, October 11, 2015
Kwiatkowski/Koepfer Into Finals, Norrie & Tearney Win Futures, UGA Club Team Takes Fall Invitational
After a few close matches on Saturday, Sunday brought a pair of straight sets wins with little suspense as Virginia's Thai-Son Kwiatkowski and Tulane's Dominik Koepfer each rolled into the finals.
Thai-Son Kwiatkowski actually fell behind Stanford's Tom Fawcett 2-0 in the opening set but then he reeled off 5 straight games to go up 5-2. After a Fawcett hold, Kwiatkowski would serve out the set and then go up an immediate break in the second set to put Fawcett on his heels. Kwiatkowski wouldn't let up and would close out the 6-3, 6-2 win in just over an hour.
Dominik Koepfer would book his spot to the finals with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Cal's Andre Goransson. Koepfer broke the Goransson serve in the 10th and final game of each set to close it out.
Thai-Son Kwiatkowski actually fell behind Stanford's Tom Fawcett 2-0 in the opening set but then he reeled off 5 straight games to go up 5-2. After a Fawcett hold, Kwiatkowski would serve out the set and then go up an immediate break in the second set to put Fawcett on his heels. Kwiatkowski wouldn't let up and would close out the 6-3, 6-2 win in just over an hour.
Dominik Koepfer would book his spot to the finals with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Cal's Andre Goransson. Koepfer broke the Goransson serve in the 10th and final game of each set to close it out.
Saturday, October 10, 2015
Down to the Final 4
Saturday was a busy day for the guys in Tulsa with both the Round of 16 and Quarterfinals held within hours of each other but by the time the dust cleared we had our final 4 and they all happen to be top 16 seeds.
The 8 morning matches saw 6 finish in straight sets with Tom Fawcett, Thai-Son Kwiatkowski, Hugo Di Feo, Dominik Koepfer, Uros Petronijevic, and Andre Goransson each winning somewhat comfortably.
The 8 morning matches saw 6 finish in straight sets with Tom Fawcett, Thai-Son Kwiatkowski, Hugo Di Feo, Dominik Koepfer, Uros Petronijevic, and Andre Goransson each winning somewhat comfortably.
Both Ronnie Schneider and Konrad Zieba needed 3 sets in their Round of 16 matches though both cruised in the 3rd set taking the final set by 6-2 scores. The one thing that was a little strange was the fact that Ronnie Schneider and Shane Vinsant started their Round of 16 match a good two and a half hours after several of the other matches. In fact as the 3rd set started the 3 other quarterfinal matches had already began.
Tennis On Campus - Fall Invitational
The courts at the Palmetto Dunes Tennis Center on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina will be packed this weekend as coed teams from 48 schools across the country compete in the 6th annual USTA Tennis on Campus Fall Invitational.
The University of Florida is going for 3 in a row at the Fall Invitational and they opened up their defense of the title with 3 wins yesterday including a 24-16 win over Ohio State in the Round of 16. The event utilizes the same scoring format as World Team Tennis.
Below is the list of the schools participating and you can follow the event at TOC's event page. Here is Friday's recap and here are some more FAQ about Tennis On Campus for those not familiar.
The University of Florida is going for 3 in a row at the Fall Invitational and they opened up their defense of the title with 3 wins yesterday including a 24-16 win over Ohio State in the Round of 16. The event utilizes the same scoring format as World Team Tennis.
Below is the list of the schools participating and you can follow the event at TOC's event page. Here is Friday's recap and here are some more FAQ about Tennis On Campus for those not familiar.
Friday, October 9, 2015
All-American 2nd Round: #1 Monaghan, #2 Alvarez, #6 Cid, #8 Montgomery Upset
Rain pushed play indoors on Day 2 of the main draw in Tulsa but that didn't hurt Auburn's Marko Krickovic as the qualifer knocked off the #1 seed Quentin Monaghan (Notre Dame) 1-6, 7-5, 7-5. Monaghan cruised to a 6-1 opening set but Krickovic turned it around in the 2nd set and went up 5-2. Krickovic got broke serving for the set up 5-2 and 5-4 but then he broke Monaghan to go up 6-5 and finally got a service hold to take the set 7-5. The 3rd set stayed on serve until Krickovic broke for a 4-3 lead and then he consolidated the break with a hold for 5-3. Monaghan would come back from 0-40 down on his serve to hold for 5-4 and then he'd go up 0-40 on the Krickovic serve before breaking from 30-40 to even the match at 5-5. Krickovic would break back on the 40-40 deciding point by clubbing a Monaghan second serve and then finishing at the net with an overhead. Krickovic didn't fool around on his next service game and held quickly at love to finish off the upset win.
Thursday, October 8, 2015
Main Draw Round 1 Results
Today was the beginning of the main draw at the All-Americans in Tulsa but things didn't exactly go as planned. Play was supposed to begin at 9am central but due to an issue with the draw the ITA had to redo it which meant that play was pushed back by 3 hours until 12pm central. The issue was that all 16 qualifiers were set to face a top 16 seed which isn't the way it's supposed to be done so after the draw was restructured we had 31 new match-ups with only the Nicolas Alvarez/Joao Monteiro pairing staying the same.
Once play begin there was 1 top 8 seed to get upset with #5 Romain Bogaerts of Wake Forest going down to Denver's Diogo Rocha 6-3, 6-3. This was also a Universal Tennis Rating upset with Rocha having a 13.23 UTR and Bogaerts a 14.37 UTR.
There were 2 other Top 16 seeds to get defeated with Georgia's Austin Smith and Texas Tech's Felipe Soares getting knocked out by Texas A&M's Shane Vinsant and USC's Nick Crystal.
The ITA's recap has a few quotes from some of the winners.
All-American 1st Round Results:
Once play begin there was 1 top 8 seed to get upset with #5 Romain Bogaerts of Wake Forest going down to Denver's Diogo Rocha 6-3, 6-3. This was also a Universal Tennis Rating upset with Rocha having a 13.23 UTR and Bogaerts a 14.37 UTR.
There were 2 other Top 16 seeds to get defeated with Georgia's Austin Smith and Texas Tech's Felipe Soares getting knocked out by Texas A&M's Shane Vinsant and USC's Nick Crystal.
The ITA's recap has a few quotes from some of the winners.
All-American 1st Round Results:
[1] Monaghan (ND) def. [WC] Lovett (AL) 5-7, 6-4, 6-3
[Q] Krickovic (AU) def. [WC] Pritchard (TU) 3-6, 6-2, 6-1
[9-16] Fawcett (ST) def. Lomacki (UM) 6-4, 6-4
[Q] Duncan (UGA) def. [Q] Bushamuka (UK) 6-2, 1-6, 7-6(5)
[7] Schneider (UNC) def. Torpegaard (OSU) 6-4, 7-6(5)
Wednesday, October 7, 2015
Qualifying Is Complete - Main Draw Starts Tomorrow
After 5 days of qualifying the field is now set for the main draw at this year's ITA Men's All-American Championships.
Florida freshman Alfredo Perez pulled off the somewhat rare feat of going 7-0 over the last 5 days by coming from the pre-qualifying draw to the qualifying draw and now to the main draw. Ohio State's Matt Mendez, who got into the qualifying draw as a lucky loser, almost joined Perez in the main draw but after rallying from 5-2 down in the 3rd to tie it at 5-5 he would drop the final 2 games and lose 6-3, 4-6, 7-5 to North Carolina's Robert Kelly.
Perez is joined by 2 other freshman in the main draw with Georgia's Walker Duncan and Ohio State's Hugo Di Feo also qualifying.
Tuesday, October 6, 2015
Qualifying Draw Continues - Seeds Continue To Fall
There were 32 seeded players in the 128 man qualifying draw but only 11 are still alive as we head to the final day of qualifying at the All-American's in Tulsa.
There were 3 Top 10 seeds knocked out on Tuesday as San Diego's Jordan Angus defeated the #1 seed, UCLA's Martin Redlicki, 6-3, 6-4, Northwestern's Konrad Zieba defeated the #8 seed, Cal's Filip Bergevi, 7-6(7), 6-2, and Tulane's Constantin Schmitz cruised past the #9 seed, Oklahoma State's Arjun Kadhe, 6-4, 6-1.
The 3 Top 10 seeds that made it to the final round of qualies are Memphis's Andrew Watson (#2) who defeated UCLA's Karue Sell 7-6(3), 6-4, USC's Max De Vroome (#5) who got past Arkansas's Jose Salazar 3-6, 7-6(4), 6-2, and Florida State's Michael Rinaldi (#10) who defeated Charlotte's Jordi Ferrer 4-6, 6-2, 6-3.
There were 3 Top 10 seeds knocked out on Tuesday as San Diego's Jordan Angus defeated the #1 seed, UCLA's Martin Redlicki, 6-3, 6-4, Northwestern's Konrad Zieba defeated the #8 seed, Cal's Filip Bergevi, 7-6(7), 6-2, and Tulane's Constantin Schmitz cruised past the #9 seed, Oklahoma State's Arjun Kadhe, 6-4, 6-1.
The 3 Top 10 seeds that made it to the final round of qualies are Memphis's Andrew Watson (#2) who defeated UCLA's Karue Sell 7-6(3), 6-4, USC's Max De Vroome (#5) who got past Arkansas's Jose Salazar 3-6, 7-6(4), 6-2, and Florida State's Michael Rinaldi (#10) who defeated Charlotte's Jordi Ferrer 4-6, 6-2, 6-3.
Monday, October 5, 2015
Pre-Q's Wrap Up and Qualies Get Started
The final round of the pre-qualifying draw was completed on Monday and the 16 pre-qualifers had a quick turnaround as they had to play again in the opening round of the qualifying draw. Below are the guys that came through pre-q's:
16 Pre-Qualifers
David Fox (Denver 12.66)
16 Pre-Qualifers
David Fox (Denver 12.66)
Yannick Zuern (North Florida 13.04)
Alfredo Perez (Florida 13.63)
Jose Salazar (Arkansas 13.77)
Maksim Kan (Wake Forest 13.18)
[9-16] John Mee (Texas 13.48)
[17-32] Sam Matheson (Liberty 12.54)
Leopold Gomez Inslinger (UW-Green Bay 12.77)
[17-32] Jordi Arconada (Texas A&M 13.59)
Cristobal Rivera (Loyola Marymount 12.92)
Howard Scott (UW-Green Bay 12.57)
Jerry Lopez (TCU 13.78)
[9-16] Ricky Medinilla (Purdue 12.67)
[5] Michael Riechmann (Texas 12.77)
Keivon Tabrizi (Wake Forest 12.85)
Jakob Amilon (UNLV 13.13)
Alfredo Perez (Florida 13.63)
Jose Salazar (Arkansas 13.77)
Maksim Kan (Wake Forest 13.18)
[9-16] John Mee (Texas 13.48)
[17-32] Sam Matheson (Liberty 12.54)
Leopold Gomez Inslinger (UW-Green Bay 12.77)
[17-32] Jordi Arconada (Texas A&M 13.59)
Cristobal Rivera (Loyola Marymount 12.92)
Howard Scott (UW-Green Bay 12.57)
Jerry Lopez (TCU 13.78)
[9-16] Ricky Medinilla (Purdue 12.67)
[5] Michael Riechmann (Texas 12.77)
Keivon Tabrizi (Wake Forest 12.85)
Jakob Amilon (UNLV 13.13)
Sunday, October 4, 2015
Day 2 Pre-Q Results + Qualie Draw Is Out (UTRs Added)
The 266 man pre-qualifying draw is down to the final 32 with 16 matches tomorrow to decide who goes on to the 128 man qualifying draw. It's interesting to note that only 8 of the 32 seeded players have made it to the final round and only 1 of the top 8 seeds is still alive.
If you look the qualifying draw further down you'll notice there are 19 spots reserved for guys coming from the pre-qualifying draw - 16 of those will be earned with the other 3 going to lucky losers. If the ITA does what the ATP/ITF does and awards the lucky loser spots to the highest ranked losers then that guarantees Michael Riechmann a spot since he is the highest remaining seed (#5) and John Mee, Ricky Medinilla, and Dave Bacalla would also have to be feeling good as well since they were seeded in the 9-16 bucket.
Here are you final pre-qualifying match-ups along with each player's Universal Tennis Rating (UTR) as of 10/5.
Sebastian Rey (Tulane 13.50) vs. David Fox (Denver 12.66)
Yannick Zuern (North Florida 13.04) vs. Julian Childers (Illinois 12.98)
Robert Herrera (East Tennesse State 13.32) vs. Alfredo Perez (Florida 13.63)
Julius Tverijonas (George Washington 12.96) vs. Jose Salazar (Arkansas 13.77)
Matt Mendez (Ohio State 12.74) vs. Maksim Kan (Wake Forest 13.18)
[9-16] John Mee (Texas 13.48) vs. [17-32] Gustav Hansson (Ole Miss 13.86)
[17-32] Sam Matheson (Liberty 12.54) vs. Jefta Kecic (Western Michigan 12.75)
Leopold Gomez Inslinger (UW-Green Bay 12.77) vs. Felix Rauch (Memphis 12.87)
If you look the qualifying draw further down you'll notice there are 19 spots reserved for guys coming from the pre-qualifying draw - 16 of those will be earned with the other 3 going to lucky losers. If the ITA does what the ATP/ITF does and awards the lucky loser spots to the highest ranked losers then that guarantees Michael Riechmann a spot since he is the highest remaining seed (#5) and John Mee, Ricky Medinilla, and Dave Bacalla would also have to be feeling good as well since they were seeded in the 9-16 bucket.
Here are you final pre-qualifying match-ups along with each player's Universal Tennis Rating (UTR) as of 10/5.
Sebastian Rey (Tulane 13.50) vs. David Fox (Denver 12.66)
Yannick Zuern (North Florida 13.04) vs. Julian Childers (Illinois 12.98)
Robert Herrera (East Tennesse State 13.32) vs. Alfredo Perez (Florida 13.63)
Julius Tverijonas (George Washington 12.96) vs. Jose Salazar (Arkansas 13.77)
Matt Mendez (Ohio State 12.74) vs. Maksim Kan (Wake Forest 13.18)
[9-16] John Mee (Texas 13.48) vs. [17-32] Gustav Hansson (Ole Miss 13.86)
[17-32] Sam Matheson (Liberty 12.54) vs. Jefta Kecic (Western Michigan 12.75)
Leopold Gomez Inslinger (UW-Green Bay 12.77) vs. Felix Rauch (Memphis 12.87)
Saturday, October 3, 2015
Day 1 Pre-Q Results
Day 1 of the All Americans is in the books with 6 of the top 8 seeds picking up wins on the the opening day of the pre-qualies.
Top 8 Seeds
1. Rogerio Ribeiro (East Tennessee State) - WON
2. Christian Cargill (William & Mary) - WON
3. Tito Moreiras (UTSA) - WON
4. Gabor Csonka (LSU) - WON
5. Michael Riechmann (Texas) - WON
6. Jonny Rigby (Southern Illinois) - WON
7. Maik Steiner (Western Michigan) - LOST
8. Luis Valero (Tennessee) - LOST
Top 8 Seeds
1. Rogerio Ribeiro (East Tennessee State) - WON
2. Christian Cargill (William & Mary) - WON
3. Tito Moreiras (UTSA) - WON
4. Gabor Csonka (LSU) - WON
5. Michael Riechmann (Texas) - WON
6. Jonny Rigby (Southern Illinois) - WON
7. Maik Steiner (Western Michigan) - LOST
8. Luis Valero (Tennessee) - LOST
Friday, October 2, 2015
All American Pre-Qualie Draw Is Out
The massive 266 person pre-qualifying draw for the All Americans is out as play officially gets underway on Saturday morning in Tulsa.
There are 20 guys that will meet in the Round of 512 so the road for those guys will be that much harder with each needing to win 5 times to reach the qualifying draw while the other 246 guys will only need to win 4 times to qualify.
Here are the top 8 seeds for the pre-q draw:
1. Rogerio Ribeiro (East Tennessee State)
2. Christian Cargill (William & Mary)
3. Tito Moreiras (UTSA)
4. Gabor Csonka (LSU)
5. Michael Riechmann (Texas)
6. Jonny Rigby (Southern Illinois)
7. Maik Steiner (Western Michigan)
8. Luis Valero (Tennessee)
There are 20 guys that will meet in the Round of 512 so the road for those guys will be that much harder with each needing to win 5 times to reach the qualifying draw while the other 246 guys will only need to win 4 times to qualify.
Here are the top 8 seeds for the pre-q draw:
1. Rogerio Ribeiro (East Tennessee State)
2. Christian Cargill (William & Mary)
3. Tito Moreiras (UTSA)
4. Gabor Csonka (LSU)
5. Michael Riechmann (Texas)
6. Jonny Rigby (Southern Illinois)
7. Maik Steiner (Western Michigan)
8. Luis Valero (Tennessee)
Wednesday, September 30, 2015
Top Players Skipping All-Americans
If you've looked at the current list of players that are confirmed for next week's Saint Francis Health Care ITA All-American Championships you'll notice that they are a lot of heavy hitters taking a pass on the 1 true Grand Slam of the college tennis season. There isn't another event all season that has this big of a draw with all the matches held at one site over a 10 day period - just like a Grand Slam yet apparently the appeal isn't there this year.
The preseason #1, #2, #3, #4, #6, #9, #12, and #15 are all skipping the AAs so that means just 7 of the preseason top 15 will be participating. The #1 seed will be Notre Dame's Quentin Monaghan who is off to a slow 1-4 start including a 6-1, 6-0 loss to Memphis's Andrew Watson.
In retrospect, last season 32 of the preseason top 34 played in the event with just Brayden Schnur and Farris Gosea playing pro events instead (full list below)
The preseason #1, #2, #3, #4, #6, #9, #12, and #15 are all skipping the AAs so that means just 7 of the preseason top 15 will be participating. The #1 seed will be Notre Dame's Quentin Monaghan who is off to a slow 1-4 start including a 6-1, 6-0 loss to Memphis's Andrew Watson.
In retrospect, last season 32 of the preseason top 34 played in the event with just Brayden Schnur and Farris Gosea playing pro events instead (full list below)
One has to wonder if the 8 top 15 guys skipping the AAs has anything to do with 4 of them already playing the year's first major event, Oracle Masters, or possibly the no-ad angle is making some of these top guys choose pro events. Regardless of the reason it's rather disappointing when this many guys skip one of the biggest events of the year. It's like having a US Open with no Djokovic, Federer, Nadal, Murray, and Nishikori - sure they'll still be plenty of great matches and it'll be competitive but it just won't have that same sizzle.
What's Coming Up
We're just a few days away from the beginning of the second major of the year with the pre-qualifying portion of the Saint Francis Health System ITA Men's All American Championships getting started on Saturday in Tulsa at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center and Union High School.
Since so many schools participate in this event there are only a handful of other small tournaments taking place this weekend.
Since so many schools participate in this event there are only a handful of other small tournaments taking place this weekend.
Below is the schedule of play for the next week and below that are all the listed participants for the pre-qualifying, qualifying, and main draw.
Sunday, September 27, 2015
Daigle Seasons The Cajun, Michael Redlicki Rolls In The ATL, & Billy Griffith Runs Wild In Napa
Lafayette, Louisiana native and LSU junior Jordan Daigle won his hometown Cajun Classic on Sunday by defeating USC junior Nick Crystal 6-3, 1-6, 6-2 in the finals. Daigle defeated Ole Miss's Grey Hamilton, Oklahoma's Austin Siegel, USC's Max De Vroome, and Georgia's Paul Oosterbaan in route to today's final with each of those 4 wins coming in straight sets. Crystal was trying to make it 3-0 against LSU players after beating Boris Arias and Justin Butsch but it was not to be Crystal.
Quotes from LSU's recap
"It started off really well,” Daigle said. “I lost a little bit of focus in the second set but once the third set started I kind of regrouped mentally and played really well to close out the match.”
“Jordan got off to a good start, serving really well and really taking the opportunities on the other guy’s serves,” said Head Coach Jeff Brown. “He did a really good job after the second set, gathering himself and handled a little more adversity about midway through.”
Quotes from LSU's recap
"It started off really well,” Daigle said. “I lost a little bit of focus in the second set but once the third set started I kind of regrouped mentally and played really well to close out the match.”
“Jordan got off to a good start, serving really well and really taking the opportunities on the other guy’s serves,” said Head Coach Jeff Brown. “He did a really good job after the second set, gathering himself and handled a little more adversity about midway through.”
College on Tour Weekly Recap/Results: 9/21 - 9/27
It was a perfect day on Sunday with our favorite former/current college guys going 4-0 in finals with Dennis Novikov, Sanam Singh, Adrien Puget, and Ryan Shane each winning pro singles titles.
Dennis Novikov (UCLA '13) won his 2nd career Challenger by defeating #116 Ryan Harrison 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 in the finals of the $50K Columbus, Ohio Challenger. It was the second week in a row that Novikov won a Challenger and the second week in a row that he beat Ryan Harrison in the finals. After each of his first 4 sets went to tiebreaks, Novikov didn't play another the rest of the week. Novikov has now won 8 career singles titles (2 Challenger/6 Futures) and with the win and accompanying 80 points he has now achieved a new career high singles ranking of 144 (up from 163 last week). Novikov raked in $7200 in prize money for the win.
Dennis Novikov (UCLA '13) won his 2nd career Challenger by defeating #116 Ryan Harrison 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 in the finals of the $50K Columbus, Ohio Challenger. It was the second week in a row that Novikov won a Challenger and the second week in a row that he beat Ryan Harrison in the finals. After each of his first 4 sets went to tiebreaks, Novikov didn't play another the rest of the week. Novikov has now won 8 career singles titles (2 Challenger/6 Futures) and with the win and accompanying 80 points he has now achieved a new career high singles ranking of 144 (up from 163 last week). Novikov raked in $7200 in prize money for the win.
Saturday, September 26, 2015
Saturday Results: Crystal & Daigle Win in Cajun; Gators Rollin; Hogs Running Wild in ATL
Florida continued it's dominance at the Bedford Cup as the Gators filled all 4 semifinal spots in the A draw along a spot in the B draw semis.
Arkansas's 2 newest members, Michael Redlicki (Duke transfer) and Jose Salazar (Oklahoma transfer), each won today in the quarters of the Georgia Tech Invitational with Redlicki taking out South Carolina's probable #1 Gabriel Freidrich and Salazar beating Auburn's Joseph Van Dooren. The two Razorbacks will be joined by Tennessee's Luis Valero and Georgia State's Jannis Koeke with Valero beating South Carolina's Alex Fennell (Penn St transfer) and Koeke knocking off UNCW's Santtu Leskinen.
USC's Nick Crystal and LSU's Jordan Daigle both won in straight sets at the Cajun Tennis Classic and will meet in tomorrow's final.
Cal's Florian Lakat, William Griffith and Mads Engsted, Princeton's Alexander Day, Stanford's David Wilczynski, Texas's Harrison Scott and Michael Riechmann, Baylor's William Little and Jimmy Bendeck, and the USTA's John McNally and Brandon Holt all improved to 2-0 at the Porsche Napa Valley Classic. Tomorrow will be the final day with each group winner advancing to the Solinco USTA Shootout with the winner earning a wild card into a future USTA Pro Circuit tournament. If you'd like to listen in on the action tune into Ken Thomas's call on RadioTennis.com at 1:30pm eastern/10:30am pacific.
Arkansas's 2 newest members, Michael Redlicki (Duke transfer) and Jose Salazar (Oklahoma transfer), each won today in the quarters of the Georgia Tech Invitational with Redlicki taking out South Carolina's probable #1 Gabriel Freidrich and Salazar beating Auburn's Joseph Van Dooren. The two Razorbacks will be joined by Tennessee's Luis Valero and Georgia State's Jannis Koeke with Valero beating South Carolina's Alex Fennell (Penn St transfer) and Koeke knocking off UNCW's Santtu Leskinen.
USC's Nick Crystal and LSU's Jordan Daigle both won in straight sets at the Cajun Tennis Classic and will meet in tomorrow's final.
Cal's Florian Lakat, William Griffith and Mads Engsted, Princeton's Alexander Day, Stanford's David Wilczynski, Texas's Harrison Scott and Michael Riechmann, Baylor's William Little and Jimmy Bendeck, and the USTA's John McNally and Brandon Holt all improved to 2-0 at the Porsche Napa Valley Classic. Tomorrow will be the final day with each group winner advancing to the Solinco USTA Shootout with the winner earning a wild card into a future USTA Pro Circuit tournament. If you'd like to listen in on the action tune into Ken Thomas's call on RadioTennis.com at 1:30pm eastern/10:30am pacific.
Friday, September 25, 2015
Friday Results: Seeds Fall in the ATL but Rise in the Bayou
The 3 seeds in the top singles draw at the Georgia Tech Invitational all went down on Friday while 3 of the 4 semifinal spots at the Cajun Classic in Lafayette are occupied by seeds.
Atlanta (GA), UNC-Wilmington's Santtu Leskinen (13.26) knocked off the #1 seed Kennesaw State's Simon Pritchard (13.26) 6-3, 6-7(4), 7-6(4); if you'll notice both players had identical UTRs. Tennessee's Luis Valero (13.19) defeated the #2 seed Ole Miss's Ricardo Jorge (12.86) 6-3, 7-6 and South Carolina's Gabriel Friedrich (13.77) upended the #3 seed Ole Miss's Gustav Hansson (13.90) in 2 tight sets 7-6, 7-5. Michael Redlicki (14.01) made his Arkansas debut after a 1 1/2 year absence and it was a successful return as he only dropped 2 games in route to a 6-0, 6-2 win over Georgia State's Sebastian Acuna (12.49).
Lafayette (LA), the top seed USC's Nick Crystal (13.95) moved into the semifinals after pulling out a 3rd set tiebreak over Oklahoma State's Arjun Kadhe (13.55) and he'll next meet LSU's Julian Butsch (13.51) who got past Oklahoma's Alex Ghilea (14.38) 7-5, 6-3. Georgia's Paul Oosterbaan (13.78) knocked off the #2 seed Ole Miss's Stefan Lindmark (14.15) 6-4, 6-7, 6-3 in a match which Oosterbaan led 6-4, 5-3. Oosterbaan will next face the #3 seed LSU's Jordan Daigle (13.28) with Daigle getting past USC's Max De Vroome (14.17) 7-5, 6-4.
St. Helena (Napa), it was a good day for the guys that were making their collegiate debuts. Texas's Liam Caruana (13.94), who is ranked #8 in ITA's preseason freshman/newcomer rankings, cruised to a 6-1, 6-2 win over Stanford sophomore David Hsu (13.65). Stanford's Michael Genender (14.15), preseason #7 ITA fresh/newcomer, got past the USTA's William Howells (13.01) 7-5, 6-2. Baylor's William Little (13.49) and Jimmy Bendeck (13.27) both were victorius with Little defeating Cal sophomore JT Nishimura (13.62) 7-5, 6-3 and Bendeck defeating Stanford junior Roy Lederman (11.75) 6-3, 6-3.
The biggest upset of the day at least in terms of UTR came when Princeton's Alexander Day (12.70) upset Florida's Elliott Orkin (14.14) 6-3, 3-6, 6-2.
Atlanta (GA), UNC-Wilmington's Santtu Leskinen (13.26) knocked off the #1 seed Kennesaw State's Simon Pritchard (13.26) 6-3, 6-7(4), 7-6(4); if you'll notice both players had identical UTRs. Tennessee's Luis Valero (13.19) defeated the #2 seed Ole Miss's Ricardo Jorge (12.86) 6-3, 7-6 and South Carolina's Gabriel Friedrich (13.77) upended the #3 seed Ole Miss's Gustav Hansson (13.90) in 2 tight sets 7-6, 7-5. Michael Redlicki (14.01) made his Arkansas debut after a 1 1/2 year absence and it was a successful return as he only dropped 2 games in route to a 6-0, 6-2 win over Georgia State's Sebastian Acuna (12.49).
Lafayette (LA), the top seed USC's Nick Crystal (13.95) moved into the semifinals after pulling out a 3rd set tiebreak over Oklahoma State's Arjun Kadhe (13.55) and he'll next meet LSU's Julian Butsch (13.51) who got past Oklahoma's Alex Ghilea (14.38) 7-5, 6-3. Georgia's Paul Oosterbaan (13.78) knocked off the #2 seed Ole Miss's Stefan Lindmark (14.15) 6-4, 6-7, 6-3 in a match which Oosterbaan led 6-4, 5-3. Oosterbaan will next face the #3 seed LSU's Jordan Daigle (13.28) with Daigle getting past USC's Max De Vroome (14.17) 7-5, 6-4.
St. Helena (Napa), it was a good day for the guys that were making their collegiate debuts. Texas's Liam Caruana (13.94), who is ranked #8 in ITA's preseason freshman/newcomer rankings, cruised to a 6-1, 6-2 win over Stanford sophomore David Hsu (13.65). Stanford's Michael Genender (14.15), preseason #7 ITA fresh/newcomer, got past the USTA's William Howells (13.01) 7-5, 6-2. Baylor's William Little (13.49) and Jimmy Bendeck (13.27) both were victorius with Little defeating Cal sophomore JT Nishimura (13.62) 7-5, 6-3 and Bendeck defeating Stanford junior Roy Lederman (11.75) 6-3, 6-3.
The biggest upset of the day at least in terms of UTR came when Princeton's Alexander Day (12.70) upset Florida's Elliott Orkin (14.14) 6-3, 3-6, 6-2.
Wednesday, September 23, 2015
What's Coming Up This Weekend (Updated Draws)
The fall season continues this week with several schools hosting tournaments - below are a few that I'll keep some tabs on. For a full list of all the tournaments check out the ITA's page. I'll add draws and tournament info as they become available - I'd expect most school's will have a post on Thursday with more details.
Porsche Napa Valley Tennis Classic - St. Helena, CA -
Teams Participating: Baylor, Cal (host), Florida, Princeton, Stanford, Texas, USTA Juniors.
Porsche Napa Valley Tennis Classic - St. Helena, CA -
Teams Participating: Baylor, Cal (host), Florida, Princeton, Stanford, Texas, USTA Juniors.
Monday, September 21, 2015
College on Tour Weekly Recap/Results: 9/14 - 9/20
2 more singles titles last week for former college guys with Dennis Novikov and Tom Jomby winning in Cary and Antalya respectively. Mackenzie McDonald, Jaime Pulgar-Garcia, and Sanam Singh each made Futures finals but came up just short.
Dennis Novikov (UCLA '13) won his 1st career Challenger by knocking off Ryan Harrison 6-4, 7-5 in the finals of the $50K Cary Challenger. Novikov only dropped 1 set all week in route to his 7th career pro singles title and with the 80 points that he earned he now has a new career high singles ranking of 163 (184 was previous). Below is Novikov's post-match speech courtesy of Lang.
Tom Jomby (Kentucky '14) won his 2nd career Futures singles title with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Alexander Boborykin in the finals of the Antalya, Turkey Future. Jomby will break into the top 400 when these 18 points are added in next week which will give him a new career high ranking (401 was previous).
Mackenzie McDonald (UCLA Jr) made it to his 1st career pro singles final but came up short in the finals of the Claremont, CA Future falling to fellow American Deiton Baughman 2-6, 6-3, 6-3. For a full recap of the final check out Jared Pine's recap which includes video clips.
Dennis Novikov (UCLA '13) won his 1st career Challenger by knocking off Ryan Harrison 6-4, 7-5 in the finals of the $50K Cary Challenger. Novikov only dropped 1 set all week in route to his 7th career pro singles title and with the 80 points that he earned he now has a new career high singles ranking of 163 (184 was previous). Below is Novikov's post-match speech courtesy of Lang.
Tom Jomby (Kentucky '14) won his 2nd career Futures singles title with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Alexander Boborykin in the finals of the Antalya, Turkey Future. Jomby will break into the top 400 when these 18 points are added in next week which will give him a new career high ranking (401 was previous).
Mackenzie McDonald (UCLA Jr) made it to his 1st career pro singles final but came up short in the finals of the Claremont, CA Future falling to fellow American Deiton Baughman 2-6, 6-3, 6-3. For a full recap of the final check out Jared Pine's recap which includes video clips.
Sunday, September 20, 2015
Cameron Norrie Wins The Oracle Masters + Other Tourney Results
TCU's Cameron Norrie claimed the inaugural Oracle ITA Masters with a 6-3, 7-6(2) win over Duke's Nicolas Alvarez in the finals. Norrie came out ready to play and jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the opening set before Alvarez got a break back but Norrie still took the set 6-3. Norrie would lead 5-3 in the 2nd set and have a match point on the Alvarez serve but Alvarez won the 40-all deciding point to make it 5-4. Alvarez would then break from 30-40 to even it at 5-5 and then he'd hold at love to go up 6-5. Norrie would then hold from 40-15 to send the second set to a tiebreak and the tiebreak would be all Norrie as he'd go up 4-0 and cruise to take the tiebreak 7-2.
Below is match point courtesy of the ITA's twitter:
Below is match point courtesy of the ITA's twitter:
Saturday, September 19, 2015
Saturday Tourney Results - Nicolas Alvarez & Cameron Norrie Into Finals
Duke's Nicolas Alvarez and TCU's Cameron Norrie, both sophomores, will play for Oracle ITA Masters Championship on Sunday after each managed to win not once but twice on a toasty Saturday afternoon in Malibu.
Alvarez started the day off by cruising past TCU's Guillermo Nunez 6-3, 6-2 before getting all he wanted and more from Texas Tech's Felipe Soares in the semifinals. Soares took the opening set 6-3 but Alvarez squeezed out the 2nd set in a tiebreak 7-6(7). The 3rd set was all Alvarez as he handed Soares a 3rd set bagel to close out the 3-6, 7-6(7), 6-0 win.
Norrie's path to the finals was fairly similar to Alvarez's as Norrie won his quarterfinal match in straight sets 6-4, 6-1 over Tulsa's Or Ram-Harel before getting pushed by Tulane's Dominik Koepfer in the semifinals. Koepfer took the opening set 6-1 before Norrie turned it around and took the 2nd set 6-4. The 3rd set stayed on serve until Koepfer lost the 40-all deciding point at 4-5 and that break sent Norrie to the finals with the 1-6, 6-4, 6-4 win.
Alvarez started the day off by cruising past TCU's Guillermo Nunez 6-3, 6-2 before getting all he wanted and more from Texas Tech's Felipe Soares in the semifinals. Soares took the opening set 6-3 but Alvarez squeezed out the 2nd set in a tiebreak 7-6(7). The 3rd set was all Alvarez as he handed Soares a 3rd set bagel to close out the 3-6, 7-6(7), 6-0 win.
Norrie's path to the finals was fairly similar to Alvarez's as Norrie won his quarterfinal match in straight sets 6-4, 6-1 over Tulsa's Or Ram-Harel before getting pushed by Tulane's Dominik Koepfer in the semifinals. Koepfer took the opening set 6-1 before Norrie turned it around and took the 2nd set 6-4. The 3rd set stayed on serve until Koepfer lost the 40-all deciding point at 4-5 and that break sent Norrie to the finals with the 1-6, 6-4, 6-4 win.