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Wimbledon Qualies Update, Susanne Depka Promoted at Davidson, Assistant Coaching News

by | Jun 30, 2017 | Blog

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While former college players may have been shutout in the Wimbledon qualifying singles draw there were three that pulled through on the doubles side. Max Schnur, who graduated from Columbia in 2015, qualified for his first-ever Grand Slam main draw after he and Cheng-Peng Hsieh defeated Ariel Behar Aliaksandr Bury 6-7, 7-5, 6-3. Schnur won 94 doubles matches in his four years at Columbia and achieved a career-high ATP doubles ranking of 95 back in February and is currently ranked 113. 

The doubles team of Johan Brunstrom (SMU ’03) and Andreas Siljestrom (Middle Tenn St ’07) also qualified for the main draw after they defeated Arenda/Peng 7-6, 6-4. It’ll be Brunstrom’s ninth main draw appearance at Wimbledon while it’ll be Siljestrom’s fourth. 

In the final round of the singles qualies both JP Smith and Dennis Novikov came up short. Novikov lost in four sets to Nicolas Jarry while Smith went down 12-10 in the fifth to Christian Garin. Smith played from ahead virtually the entire fifth set until Garin broke him for 11-10 in a four-deuce game. Garin didn’t face a break point in any of his final seven service games.  

On the women’s side two players with college ties moved into the final round of qualies as both Kristie Ahn and Irina Falconi picked up wins. Former Tennessee Volunteer Caitlin Whoriskey is in the final round of qualies in doubles with she and Ashley Weinhold set to meet the team of Dzalamidze and Kudermetova on Friday.
 
Wimbledon Qualies – Men’s Final Round
#218 Christian Garin def. #211 JP Smith (Tennessee ’11) 4-6, 7-6(7), 6-4, 4-6, 12-10
#182 Nicolas Jarry def. #175 Dennis Novikov (UCLA ’13*) 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4
 
Women’s Round 2
#116 Kristie Ahn (Stanford ’14) def. #159 Kateryna Kozlova 2-6, 7-6(4), 6-3
#246 Irina Falconi (Georgia Tech ’10*) def. #151 Elitsa Kostova 6-3, 6-3
#135 Aryna Sabalenka def. #145 Jamie Loeb (North Carolina ’15*) 7-6(5), 6-4
 
Final Round
#116 Kristie Ahn (Stanford ’14) vs. #135 Aryna Sabalenka
#246 Irina Falconi (Georgia Tech ’10*) vs. #119 Mariana Duque-Marino
 
Men’s Doubles Qualies – Final Round
Max Schnur (Columbia ’15)/Cheng-Peng Hsieh def. Behar/Bury 6-7(6), 7-5, 6-3
Johan Brunstrom (SMU ’03)/Andreas Siljestrom (Middle Tenn St ’07) def. Arenda/Peng 7-6(9), 6-4
Krawietz/Zelenay def. Dino Marcan (Ohio State ’10*)/Tristan-Samuel Weissborn 7-5, 6-3
 
Women’s Doubles Qualies – Final Round
Caitlin Whoriskey (Tennessee ’10)/Ashley Weinhold vs. Dzalamidze/Kudermetova
 
 

 
Davidson Athletic Director Jim Murphy announced that Susanne Depka had been promoted from assistant women’s coach to head women’s coach. Depka had been the assistant under Sara Anundsen O’Leary for the last three years with the head coaching position opening up when O’Leary accepted the head coaching position at Virginia two weeks ago. Below are some quotes from Davidson’s release.
 
“Susanne’s knowledge of the game, understanding of our program and relationship with the team create a special opportunity for our women’s tennis program,” said Murphy. “I’m very pleased with the appointment of Susanne to be our next head women’s tennis coach.”
 

“I want to thank Jim Murphy and Assistant Director of Athletics/Senior Woman Administrator Katy McNay for providing me with this opportunity and believing in my vision for the program,” said Depka. “I am thrilled and honored to have been chosen to lead this amazing team. Davidson is a special community and I am so grateful to be a part of it. I’m extremely excited to continue to build upon the success of the tennis program. My goal is to help the student-athletes improve on the tennis court as well as off. The development of the athlete’s character is one of the most important aspects of the program and I am committed to continue to grow this tremendous culture.”

 
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Two big assistant hires were announced on Thursday. Georgia men’s head coach Manuel Diaz named former Georgia All-American Jamie Hunt as the new associate head coach. Hunt played at Georgia from 2007 to 2010 and had been the assistant/associate head coach at Vanderbilt for the last seven years. 
 
New Virginia women’s head coach Sara Anundsen O’Leary announced that Gina Suarez-Malaguti will be her new assistant coach. Suarez-Malaguti, who played at North Carolina from 2010 to 2013, had been the the women’s assistant at NC State for the last three seasons.