Georgia Tech rising senior Chris Eubanks picked up his first career main draw win at the ATP-level and moved into the second round of the BB&T Atlanta Open with a straight set win over 19-year-old American Taylor Fritz. Both guys served well with each winning over 70% of the points on their serve but it was Eubanks who earned the lone break of the match and came away with the 7-6(5), 6-4 win. Eubanks was playing in the main draw of his hometown event for the third year in a row but this was the first time he was able to come away with the all-important win. Next up for Eubanks is the eighth seed Jared Donaldson.
First Tour Level Match Win: ?
Thanks for the support tonight ATL! Couldn’t have done it without you #trusttheprocess #yimlife pic.twitter.com/iAh9Zs3vn5— Christopher Eubanks (@chris_eubanks96) July 26, 2017
Eight players with college ties moved into the second round at the $75K Levene Gouldin & Thompson Tennis Challenger in Binghamton, New York. TCU rising junior Alex Rybakov picked up his first career main draw win at the Challenger-level last week in Winnipeg and on Tuesday he picked up his second with a 6-3, 6-2 win over qualifier Adam El Mihdawy (ATP 408). Rybakov hit eight aces and won 77% of the points on his first serve while he won 76% of the points on El Mihdawy’s second serve. Rybakov broke El Mihdawy four times while he fought off five of six break points on his own serve. Next up for Rybakov will be the winner of the match between Jordan Thompson (ATP 79) and Evan King (ATP 350) which was halted due to darkness with Thompson leading 7-6, 3-3.
Rybakov’s former TCU teammate Cameron Norrie moved into the second round as well with a 7-6(3), 6-2 win over the third seed Ramkumar Ramanathan (ATP 178). Next up for Norrie will be former USC Trojan Daniel Nguyen (ATP 353) after Nguyen knocked off USC rising sophomore Brandon Holt 6-3, 2-6, 6-3.
North Carolina rising sophomore William Blumberg picked up his first career main draw Challenger win after defeating former Australian Open and Wimbledon junior champion Luke Saville (ATP 373) 7-5, 6-3. Next up for Blumberg will the eight seed Denis Kudla (ATP 172).
Other winners of note in Binghamton were Dominik Koepfer (Tulane ’16), Ed Corrie (Texas ’11), Blaz Rola (Ohio State ’13), and Kevin King (Georgia Tech ’12).
Former UNC Tar Heel Brayden Schnur rolled into the second round of the $100K Challenger Banque Nationale de Granby (Canada) with a 6-1, 6-2 rout over Yusuke Takahashi (ATP 257). Schnur, who is up to a career-high ranking of 208, will face the third seed Go Soeda (ATP 143) in the second round.
Ohio State rising senior Mikael Torpegaard started off the summer with two solid weeks in Rochester and Pittsburgh but since moving up to the Challenger-level he hasn’t had the same level of success. Torpegaard was also playing in Granby this week but unfortunately he exited in the opening round for the third week in a row with a 7-5, 6-3 loss to Ti Chen (ATP 267).
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For the second week in a row Champaign is the site of a U.S. Futures event with four Illini moving on to the second round. Jared Hiltzik (Illinois ’16) could meet his former teammate Aleks Vukic (Illinois rising senior) in the quarterfinals if each is able to pull through in the second round – Hiltzik vs. Santiago Fa Rodriguez Taverna (ATP 826) and Vukic vs. Shane Vinsant (Texas A&M ’16/ATP 688). Illinois rising sophomore Zeke Clark will face 17-year-old American Lukas Greif in the second round after Clark knocked off recent TCU graduate Jerry Lopez in straight sets while Greif defeated 2015 NCAA singles champion Ryan Shane in straight sets.
Other opening round winners in Champaign were John McNally (Ohio State incoming freshman), Jeffrey Schorsch (Valpo ’17), Cameron Silverman (Elon ’14), Dennis Nevolo (Illinois ’12), and Sam Riffice (2018 Florida commit).
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