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LSU Shines in Florida, BYU Wins Opener, Vukic/Norrie/Sarkissian Win Down Under, Futures Action

by | Jan 9, 2016 | Blog

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LSU’s guys were the top performers in Day 1 of the FGCU Invitational as they went 5-2 in singles and 2-1 in doubles. Kentucky had 2 freshmen make their debuts as Ryotaro Matsumura (14.08) won in straight sets over Memphis’s Felix Rauch (12.63) while Enzo Wallart (13.17) lost a tough 3-setter to Memphis’s Kai Lemke (13.38).

Friday Results Singles/Doubles
LSU 5-2/2-1
Kentucky 5-3/1-3
Memphis 3-4/2-1
FGCU 2-6/2-2

2016 FLORIDA GULF COAST INVITE – DAY ONE RESULTS

Singles Competition
#87 Andrew Watson (Memphis) def. Nils Ellefsen (Kentucky) 7-6 (7-3), 6-2
Ryan Peniston (Memphis) def. Trey Yates (Kentucky) 6-1, 6-4
Ryotaro Matsumura (Kentucky) def. Felix Rauch (Memphis) 6-2, 6-2
Kai Lemke (Memphis) def. Enzo Wallart (Kentucky) 3-6, 6-3, 6-4
Austin Hussey (Kentucky) def. Shakeel Manji (Memphis) 6-2, 6-3
Jake Stefanik (Kentucky) def. Chris Patzanovsky (Memphis) 6-3, 6-2
Gus Benson (Kentucky) def. Louis Asser (Memphis) 7-5, 7-6, 10-4
Kevin Lai (Kentucky) def. Sam Chaffin (Florida Gulf Coast) 6-2, 6-3
#78 Justin Butsch (LSU) def. Ricky Ventura (Florida Gulf Coast) 7-6, 6-3
Andrew Korinek (LSU) def. Andres Alfonzo  (Florida Gulf Coast) 1-6, 6-2, 6-1
Boris Arias (LSU) def. Oliver Landert (Florida Gulf Coast) 7-5, 6-3
Enduado Alfonzo, (Florida Gulf Coast) def Tam Trinh (LSU) 6-2, 6-2
Ezequiel Cerrini (Florida Gulf Coast) def. Simon Freud (LSU) 6-4, 6-4
Gabor Csonka (LSU) def. Javier Fernandez (Florida Gulf Coast) 6-2, 4-6, 7-5 
Cameron Andry (LSU) def. Lucas Vaz (Florida Gulf Coast) 2-6, 7-6 (9-7), 6-2
Doubles Competition
Kai Lemke/Louis Asser (Memphis) def. Ellefsen/Lai (Kentucky) 6-4
Wallart/Matsumura (Kentucky) def. Peniston/Rauch(Memphis) 6-4
Watson/Manji (Memphis) def. Yates/Benson (Kentucky) 7-6 (7-4)
Perrigan/Chaffin (Florida Gulf Coast) def. Stefanik/Hussey (Kentucky) 6-4
Arias/Csonka, (LSU) def. Ventura /Fernandez (Florida Gulf Coast) 6-3
Freund /Butsch (LSU) def. Landert/Vaz (Florida Gulf Coast) 6-4
A. Alfonzo /E. Alfonzo (Florida Gulf Coast) def. Korinek /Trinh (LSU) 6-2

“Today was a really good day for our freshman, UK head coach Cedric Kauffmann said, who is embarking on his fourth year at the helm of Kentucky men’s tennis. “We competed well overall but we have to tweak some things in doubles. The effort was certainly there. We will get better through the weekend to get ready for the season opener next weekend.

“This was a great opening to the spring, LSU Head Coach Jeff Brown said. “The guys competed hard and played well for the first match back. We want to play even better tomorrow and string good matches together.
“Today was a good first day for the guys,” said FGCU head coach CJ Weber. “I was especially excited for Javi and Ezequiel to represent the Green and Blue for the first time. They both competed with class and grit. For Ezequiel to win his first match as an Eagle, that was something special and Javi’s is coming soon. Eduardo had an awesome day going 2-0 with two quality, hard-fought wins. He’s clearly ready for his senior year.”

Illinois sophomore Aleks Vukic (14.49) got a qualifying wild card into his hometown ATP 250 Apia International Sydney and promptly thanked the tournament directors by upsetting #62 Sergiy Stakhovsky (15.25) 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.  Vukic got off to a slow start and fell behind 3-0 in the first and ultimately dropped the opening set 6-3. The second set stayed on serve until Vukic broke Stakhovsky to go up 5-3 and then he held serve to take the set 6-3. Vukic broke Stakhovsky to start the third set and held for a 2-0 lead but Stakhovsky would take the next 3 to go up 3-2. Vukic would break Stakhovsky’s 4-4 service game from 30-40 and would then serve it out from 40-15 to earn his first career win over a top 100 opponent.  Next up for Vukic is #264 Maximilian Marterer (15.05) with the winner qualifying for the main draw. Vukic earned 6 ATP points for the win over Stakhovsky and if he gets past Marterer he’d earn another 6.

Vukic wasn’t the only guy with college ties to beat an ATP Top 100 player in Sydney as #198 Alex Sarkissian (Pepperdine ’14 -14.54) upended #81 Ernests Gulbis (15.25) 6-3, 7-5. Sarkissian broke Gulbis to go up 3-1 in the first set and held the break lead to take the set 6-3. Sarkissian broke Gulbis to go up 4-3 in the second but Gulbis broke back in the next game. Sarkissian broke again to go up 6-5 and then he held at love to seal the 6-3, 7-5. Next up for Sarkissian is #471 Lukasz Kubot (14.63) with Kubot a top 100 player before an injury sidelined him for most of last year.

TCU sophomore Cameron Norrie (14.68) also took advantage of his qualifying wild card by routing Chung-Hyo Woo (12.70) 6-1, 6-2 at ASB Classic in Auckland.  Next up Norrie will face 2004 NCAA Singles Champion Benjamin Becker (Baylor 15.17) with the winner qualifying for the main draw. Norrie earned 6 ATP points for his win over Woo.

BYU won the first dual-match of the season that I’m aware of by blanking Southern Utah 7-0 with 10 of the 12 sets ending in 6-0.

BYU 7, Southern Utah 0

Jan. 8, 2016 at Provo, Utah (Indoor Tennis Court)
Singles competition
1. Keaton Cullimore (BYU 13.48) def. Dario Rios (SUU 8.06/20%) 6-0, 6-0
2. Shane Monroe (BYU 13.28) def. Ryan Andrus (SUU 9.49) 6-0, 6-2
3. Andrey Goryachkov (BYU 12.61) def. Jacob Nelson (SUU 11.26/10%) 6-0, 6-0
4. John Pearce (BYU 12.48) def. Brandon Olcott (SUU 8.32) 6-0, 6-0
5. Jeremy Bourgeios (BYU 12.17) def. Joshua Coen (SUU 9.51/10%) 6-0, 6-2
6. J.D. Malan (BYU 11.79) def. Peyton Garnett (SUU 8.00/10%) 6-0, 6-0
Doubles competition
1. Goryachkov/Jacob Sullivan (BYU) def. Jacob Nelson/Ryan Andrus (SUU) 5-3
2. Cullimore/Monroe (BYU) def. Brandon Olcott/Dario Rios (SUU) 6-1
3. Pearce/Bourgeios (BYU) def. Joshua Coen/Peyton Garnett (SUU) 6-2
Match Notes:
SUU Men’s Tennis 0-1
BYU Men’s Tennis 1-0
Order of finish: Doubles (2,3); Singles (3,4,1,2)
T-2 hours

Ryan Shane’s run at the LA F1 Futures came to an end on Friday as he fell to #303 Philip Bester 6-2, 6-3. Here is a brief excerpt from Steve Pratt’s recap which includes some quotes from Shane:

This spring, Shane will try and become the first player since USC’s Steve Johnson to win back-to-back NCAA singles titles. “It wasn’t a tough decision to come back, said Shane, who led the Cavaliers to their second NCAA team title in three years last May. “It’s such a great team and we only lost one guy. It’s a great environment and they’re helping me with my schedule and to get ready for the Tour. Besides, three out of four national championships wouldn’t be bad way to go out.

Now that he’s out of the tournament, Shane said he will try and take in some sights before moving on to play in Long Beach next week. “I’ll try to go to Hollywood, he said. “I’ve been to Santa Monica shopped around a little bit while it was raining.

Quarterfinal Results:
#261 Tennys Sandgren (Tennessee ’11) def. #528 Sebastian Fanselow (Pepp ’13) 5-7, 6-4, 7-6(2)
#351 Stefan Kozlov def. #383 Gianluigi Quinzi 6-3, 3-6, 6-1
#303 Philip Bester def. #730 Ryan Shane (Virginia Sr) 6-2, 6-3
#468 Clay Thompson (UCLA ’14) def. #453 Ed Corrie (Texas ’11) 6-2, 6-2

Semifinals:

#261 Tennys Sandgren (Tennessee ’11) vs. #351 Stefan Kozlov
#468 Clay Thompson (UCLA ’14) vs. #303 Philip Bester

There are 2 Futures events in the U.S. next week with most of the guys that played in LA heading to Long Beach while the other is a clay court event in Plantation, Florida. Below are the qualifying draws for each with both loaded with college players.

Zeke Clark (2016 Illinois Commit) dropped his semifinal match at the Grade 1 Coffee Bowl in Costa Rica to fellow American JJ Wolf 2-6, 6-6, 6-0 – Colette Lewis has more details on this event at ZooTennis