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Alabama Holds Off ETSU; Baylor Sweeps Sherwood; MLK Invitational Wraps Up; Great Start to Aussie Open

by | Jan 17, 2017 | Blog

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Alabama missed out on last year’s NCAA Tournament by one spot so in the offseason men’s head coach George Husack overhauled the roster and brought in five newcomers. On Monday afternoon all five of those newcomers were in the lineup and played a pivotal roll in the Crimson Tide’s tight 4-2 win over East Tennessee State. The doubles point was decided in a tiebreak at No. 2 after ETSU’s Diego Nunez and Robert Herrera pulled off an upset at No. 1 and Alabama freshmen Thibault Cancel and Zhe Zhou won at No. 3. Alabama freshmen Alexey Nesterov and Edson Ortiz would pull out the tiebreak at No. 2 by a 7-2 score to give Alabama the early 1-0 lead and that one point would prove to be huge later on. 

Alabama took four first sets in singles but only Spencer Richey and Edson Ortiz would be able to finish in straight sets with wins at No. 4 and No. 5. ETSU picked up straight set wins from Robert Herrera and David Gonzalez at No. 3 and No. 6 plus both David Biosca and Diego Nunez forced third sets at No. 1 and No. 2. Cancel jumped out to an early break lead in the third against Nunez and was able to pull away late to win it 6-2, 2-6, 6-3. At the time of the clinch ETSU’s Biosca was up a break at 3-1 in the third at No. 1.   

 
Post-Match comments from Alabama’s recap
“I was really impressed with our freshmen stepping into the ring for the first time,” said head coach George Husack. “Four youngsters clinched the doubles point against ETSU and then another came up big to clinch that win. In the nightcap we had freshmen and sophomores leading the way. It won’t matter what year you are or how experienced you might be, we will have an all hands on deck mentality throughout the season.” 
 
Alabama 4, East Tennessee State 2
Jan. 16, 2017 at Tuscaloosa, Ala. (Roberta Alison Baumgardner Tennis Fac.)
Singles competition
1. #63 Mazen Osama (UA 13.92) vs. #43 David Biosca (ETSU 14.11) 6-2, 5-7, 1-3, unfinished
2. #78 Thibault Cancel (UA 14.04) def. #65 Diego Nunez (ETSU 12.67) 6-2, 2-6, 6-3
3. Robert Herrera (ETSU 13.78) def. Alexey Nesterov (UA 12.80) 7-6 (7-5), 6-4
4. Spencer Richey (UA 12.59) def. Miguel Este (ETSU 12.72) 6-4, 7-5
5. Edson Ortiz (UA 13.14) def. Wenceslao Albin (ETSU 12.57) 6-1, 6-4
6. David Gonzalez (ETSU 12.47) def. Ritchie Kruunenberg (UA 12.32) 6-3, 6-4
Doubles competition
1. Diego Nunez/Robert Herrera (ETSU 13.33) def. #32 Mazen Osama/Spencer Richey (UA 13.71) 7-5
2. Alexey Nesterov/Edson Ortiz (UA) def. David Biosca/Miguel Este (ETSU) 7-6 (7-2)
3. Thibault Cancel/Zhe Zhou (UA) def. Wenceslao Albin/Juan Lugo (ETSU) 6-3
Match Notes:
East Tennessee State 0-1
Alabama 1-0
Order of finish: Doubles (3,1,2); Singles (5,4,6,3,2)
T-3:11 A-157
 
 
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Other Notable Dual-Match Results:
 
Men:
  • Central Florida ran its record to 3-0 with a 7-0 win over New Mexico. UCF won 12 of 13 sets in singles after winning a pretty close doubles point. 
  • #15 Kentucky opened up its season with a 7-0 win over Eastern Kentucky and a 6-1 win over Dayton. 
  • Duke dropped the doubles point against Elon but cruised in singles with freshmen Robert Levine, Spencer Furman, and Nick Stachowiak each picking up wins. 
  • USC won its season opener 6-1 over D3’s UC Santa Cruz with several expected starters sitting this one out. 
  • Tennessee dropped the doubles point against North Florida but rebounded to win 5-2 – the Vols also beat Austin Peay 7-0 later in the day.
  • #9 North Carolina blew out UNC Greensboro 7-0 with the Tar Heels winning 12 of 13 sets in singles. 
 
Women:
  • Florida State went on the road and defeated Columbia 5-2. FSU took the doubles point and Julia Mikulski clinched the win at No. 2.  
  • Wake Forest opened its season with a pair of 7-0 wins over Winthrop and the College of Charleston. 
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Baylor’s Juan Benitez and Max Tchoutakian teamed up to win the Sherwood Cup doubles title with a 7-5 win over USC’s Rob Bellamy and Jake DeVine and then an hour later Benitez won the singles title with a 6-0, 6-4 win over Tchoutakian.  
 
Comments from Baylor’s recap
“It was a great weekend for us. There was some really tough competition out there. One of our goals was to have one of our guys win it, so to win the singles and doubles was a super way to start the spring season.” – head coach Matt Knoll on winning the singles and doubles titles

“When you play eight guys, you never have everyone play their best tennis on the same weekend. We certainly had some guys not play their best tennis, but on balance it was a really, really good performance for our team. We had a bunch of guys do good things and really get better. We accomplished everything we could have hoped to accomplish out there and it was just a super way to get started.” – Knoll on the tournament weekend

 

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Georgia Tech’s Chris Eubanks was named the singles champion at the MLK Invitational in Atlanta after defeating Georgia’s Wayne Montgomery in three sets while Columbia’s Victor and Richard Pham were named the doubles champs after a 6-1 win over Illinois’s Aron Hiltzik and Aleks Kovacevic. 

Georgia won all three doubles matches against Georgia Tech and won four of six singles matches with all four wins coming in three sets. Columbia won three of four doubles matches against Illinois but the Illini rallied to win five of eight singles matches. 

Georgia Tech head coach Kenny Thorne says: “I think overall in the tournament we had good doubles but the exception was probably today. In singles we were fighting really hard, hung in there and made some good decisions towards the end of sets and it paid off for Andrew and Chris [Eubanks]. I think we just need to push a little bit further on the other courts and deep in the third and we’re going to be right there. It’s nothing that we can’t correct and get going for our first match against them on Friday.”

“Overall, I thought we showed great resiliency all day,” Georgia head coach Manuel Diaz said. “We have a lot of positives to take from this first weekend into our first dual match of the season against Georgia Tech on Friday. Wayne was up a break in the third and lost a tough one against a really good player in Chris Eubanks. Emil, Walker and Robert all played really well and battled back after losing the first set in each of those matches. All in all, it was a good weekend for our team. Our doubles play was exceptional today,” Diaz added. “All three our of teams played outstanding and it was great to see them pick up three wins against quality opponents.”

Illinois’s head coach Brad Dancer’s thoughts – “Georgia Tech and their staff did an incredible job hosting a first class tournament. We knew coming in that we would get challenged every day and we certainly did. Everyone got tested. This was exactly what we needed. We have things to focus on in all areas but we fought hard. We fought like Illini.”
 
Georgia/Georgia Tech
Doubles Results
#54 Jan Zielinski/Robert Loeb (Georgia) def. Christopher Eubanks/Andrew Li (Georgia Tech) 6-2
Walker Duncan/Wayne Montgomery (Georgia) def. Daniel Yun/Carlos Divar (Georgia Tech) 6-4
Emil Reinberg/Alex Phillips (Georgia) def. Chris Yun/Michael Kay (Georgia Tech) 7-5

Singles Results
#9 Christopher Eubanks (Georgia Tech) def. #22 Wayne Montgomery (Georgia) 6-7 (4-7), 6-3, 6-4
#61 Andrew Li (Georgia Tech) def. #56 Jan Zielinski (Georgia) 7-5, 6-3
#31 Emil Reinberg (Georgia) def. Daniel Yun (Georgia Tech) 4-6, 7-5, 6-2
Robert Loeb (Georgia) def. Chris Yun (Georgia Tech) 4-6, 6-4, 6-1
Alex Phillips (Georgia) def. Elijah Melendez (Georgia Tech) 6-4, 2-6, 6-3
#79 Walker Duncan (Georgia) def. Cole Fiegel (Georgia Tech) 4-6, 6-1, 6-4

 
Illinois/Columbia
Doubles Results
Grant/Ambrozy (Columbia) def. Vukic/Budic (Illinois) 6-2
#8 R. Pham/V. Pham (Columbia) def. Hiltzik/Kovacevic (Illinois) 6-1
Jesse/Gomes (Illinois) def. #34 Hadavi/Tang (Columbia) 6-3
Rolshi/Matheson (Columbia) def. Clark/Khlif (Illinois) 7-5
Singles Results
Zeke Clark (Illinois) def. Alex Keyser (Columbia) 3-6, 6-1, 6-2
#85 Aleks Kovacevic (Illinois) def. Jackie Tang (Columbia) 6-2, 6-3
Aleks Vukic (Illinois) def. #40 Victor Pham (Columbia) 6-2, 6-4
#29 Aron Hiltzik (Illinois) def. #48 Shawn Hadavi (Columbia) 7-6, 7-5
Timothy Wang (Columbia) def. #100 Gui Gomes (Illinois) 6-3, 7-5
Noe Khlif (Illinois) def. Richard Pham (Columbia) 4-6, 6-2, 7-6
Christopher Grant (Columbia) def. Pablo Landa (Illinois) 7-5, 6-3
Adam Ambrozy (Columbia) def. Vuk Budic (Illinois) 6-2, 6-2
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Michigan Invitational (Michigan/Arizona State/Tennessee/DePaul) results 
Indiana Winter Invite (Indiana, Colorado, Marquette, Abilene Christian) results
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Pro Circuit Results 
 
 
Australian Open Men’s Singles
R1: [19] John Isner (Georgia ’07) def. Konstantin Kravchuk 6-3, 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-1
R1: [Q] Noah Rubin (Wake Forest ’15*) def. [Q} Bjorn Fratangelo 6-7(4), 7-5, 3-6, 6-2, 6-2
R1: Steve Johnson (USC ’12) def. Federico Delbonis 6-3, 6-4, 6-4
R2: [19] John Isner (Georgia ’07) vs. Mischa Zverev
R2: [Q] Noah Rubin (Wake Forest ’15*) vs. [17] Roger Federer
R2: Steve Johnson (USC ’12) vs. [4] Stan Wawrinka
 
 
Australian Open Women’s Singles
R1: Nicole Gibbs (Stanford ’13*) def. [25] Timea Babos 7-6(3), 6-4
R1: Irina Falconi (Georgia Tech ’10*) def. Xinyun Han 6-1, 7-5
R1: [Q} Jennifer Brady (UCLA ’15*) def. [LL} Maryna Zanevska 6-3, 6-2
R2:  Nicole Gibbs (Stanford ’13*) vs. Irina Falconi (Georgia Tech ’10*)
R2: [Q} Jennifer Brady (UCLA ’15*) vs. Heather Watson
 
* didn’t stay at school for all four years