[4] Illinois (27-4) vs. [13] North Carolina (23-10) – Thursday 1pm – Illinois is coming off a 4-0 win over Green Bay and a 4-2 squeaker over #33 Drake while North Carolina blanked William & Mary and then won fairly comfortably over #20 Mississippi State 4-1. North Carolina welcomed Esben Hess-Olesen back to the singles lineup at #6 after he missed all but a handful of matches with injury troubles. Illinois won the regular season meeting 4-3 in a match that North Carolina played without its #2 Ronnie Schneider though Hess-Olesen was in at #3 so the bottom half of the lineup stayed the same. The only singles rematches will come at #1 and #5. Below is the box score from that first meeting and here are a few video highlights that I shot when I was in attendance.
Jan 31, 2015 at Urbana, Ill. (Atkins Tennis Center)
Singles competition
1. Farris Gosea (ILL) def. #2 Brayden Schnur (UNC) 3-6, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (5)
2. #31 Jared Hiltzik (ILL) def. Brett Clark (UNC) 5-7, 6-4, 6-4
3. Esben Hess-Olesen (UNC) def. #62 Aron Hiltzik (ILL) 6-1, 4-6, 6-3
4. #40 Tim Kopinski (ILL) def. Jack Murray (UNC) 7-6 (5), 6-2
5. Robert Kelly (UNC) def. #44 Aleks Vukic (ILL) 6-4, 1-6, 6-3
6. Toshiki Matsuya (ILL) def. Stuart DePaolo (UNC) 6-2, 4-6, 6-2
Doubles competition
1. Oystein Steiro/Esben Hess-Olesen (UNC) def. Ross Guignon/Tim Kopinski (ILL) 6-4
2. Farris Gosea/Jared Hiltzik (ILL) def. Jack Murray/Ronnie Schneider (UNC) 6-1
3. Brett Clark/Robert Kelly (UNC) def. Aron Hiltzik/Aleks Vukic (ILL) 6-1
Match Notes
North Carolina 6-1; National ranking #6
Illinois 4-1; National ranking #8
Order of finish: Doubles (3,2,1); Singles (5,4,6,3,2,1)
The UTR Power 6 is the combined UTRs of the starting 6 (rounded to a whole #). An individual win/loss to anyone with a UTR difference of 1.0 or greater would be considered an upset.
Doubles Records: Illinois 20-11, North Carolina 24-9
UTR Starting 6 Power Rating: Illinois 86, North Carolina 84
FYI, the number beside the player’s school is the player’s Universal Tennis Rating as of May 11th. For more details about UTR check out their website.
FYI, the number beside the player’s school is the player’s Universal Tennis Rating as of May 11th. For more details about UTR check out their website.
Projected Singles Lineups with UTRs in ( ):
1. #33 Farris Gosea (ILL 14.69) vs. #12 Brayden Schnur (NC 14.64)
2. #23 Jared Hiltzik (ILL 14.55) vs. #28 Ronnie Schneider (NC 14.35)
3. #65 Tim Kopinski (ILL 14.24) vs. #73 Brett Clark (NC 13.88)
4. #81 Aron Hiltzik (ILL 14.20) vs.
5. #74 Aleks Vukic (ILL 14.53) vs. Robert Kelly (NC 13.70)
6. Ross Guignon (ILL 13.39) vs. Esben Hess-Olesen (UNC 13.54)
Others who could play: Toshiki Matsuya (ILL 13.40), Brian Page (ILL 12.68), Oystein Steiro (UNC 13.41)
Dual-Match Singles Records – # in ( ) is W-L vs. ranked:
1. Gosea 13-5 (5-5) vs. Schnur 9-7 (4-7)
2. J Hiltzik 20-2 (11-2) vs. Schneider 17-10 (6-10)
3. Kopinski 18-4 (2-3) vs. Clark 20-6 (6-4)
4. A Hiltzik 17-3 (3-0) vs. Murray 19-6 (2-4)
5. Vukic 22-2 (3-0) vs. Kelly 23-4 (1-1)
6. Guignon 5-3 vs. Hess-Olesen 4-4 (1-2)
1. Gosea has won 8 in a row including a 5-7, 6-3, 7-6 win on Saturday over Drake’s #40 Alen Salibasic while Schnur has won 5 of 6 including a Saturday win over Mississippi State’s #62 Florian Lakat 6-3, 6-4. Gosea came back from 5-2 down in the 3rd to beat Schnur in the regular season meeting to clinch the team win. Gosea has been the more consistent of the two all season and that’s why I think he pulls through in this one. Prediction: Gosea (ILL) in 2
2. Jared Hiltzik has won 8 of his last 9 and he won on Saturday against Drake’s #66 Ben Lott 7-5, 6-4 while Schneider has split his last 6 with his last match against Juan Cruz Estevarena going unfinished with Schneider leading 6-4, 3-4. There will probably be a lot of long rallies in this one but Hiltzik is just a notch better than Schnedier. Prediction: Hiltzik (ILL) in 2
3. Kopinski has won 6 of his last 7 but he lost on Saturday to Drake’s Matt Frost 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 while Clark has won 8 of his last 10 but he also lost on Saturday to Mississippi State’s Mate Cutura 6-2, 6-2. Prediction: DNF with Kopinski (ILL) leading in the 3rd
4. Aron Hiltzik has won 15 in a row though both his matches over the weekend went unfinished though he did lead Drake’s Ravi Patel 5-2 in the 3rd. Murray has won 8 of his last 10 with his match on Saturday against Mississippi State’s Rishab Agarwal going unfinished with Murray leading 7-5, 3-1. These are two evenly matched players but I like Hiltzik to pull through in what I think will be the match decider Prediction: Hiltzik (ILL) in 3
5. Vukic has won 20 of his last 21 including a 6-0, 6-3 win on Saturday over Drake’s Calum MacGeoch while Kelly has won 8 in a row including a 6-2, 6-1 rout on Saturday over Mississippi State’s Tassilo Schmid. Kelly beat Vukic 6-4, 1-6, 6-3 in the regular season meeting. Both guys are playing extremely well but I think Vukic comes out on top this time. Prediction: Vukic (ILL) in 2
6. Guignon has won his last 2 including a 7-6, 6-4 win on Saturday over Drake’s Ben Mullis while Hess-Olesen won 7-5, 6-2 on Saturday over Mississippi State’s Julian Cash. It was Hess-Olesen’s first win since beating Aron Hiltzik back on January 31st. Hess-Olesen has been battling injuries all year but when healthy he is a top half of the lineup player. Prediction: Hess-Olesen (UNC) in 3
The doubles point is a toss-up but I’ll go with North Carolina based on their performance last weekend. If Hess-Olesen plays like he did against Cash he should win at #6 but I think Illinois gets it done everywhere else with Gosea, Vukic, and the Hiltzik brothers winning at 1, 2, 4, and 5. North Carolina’s path to a win would be to take doubles and get wins from Schnur, Clark, and Hess-Olesen. Prediction: Illinois 4-2
[5] TCU (23-7) vs. [12] Wake Forest (24-7) – Thursday 1pm – TCU is coming off a pair of shutouts over Marist and #30 Tulsa while Wake did the same and blanked George Washington and #39 Pepperdine. Wake’s Jon Ho played in doubles but did not play in singles in either match so there must be an injury keeping him out. Wake will need him in the lineup to have a good shot at beating TCU for a 2nd time this year. Wake Forest did win the regular season meeting 4-3 (box score below) in a match the Deacs played without its #1 Noah Rubin. However only 1 of the singles matches will be a rematch with that likely coming at #5 between Dachs and Seraphim and that’ll only happen if Jon Ho returns to the lineup.
#20 Wake Forest 4, #13 TCU 3
#20 Wake Forest 4, #13 TCU 3
Mar 08, 2015 at Winston-Salem, N.C. (Wake Forest Tennis Complex)
Singles competition
1. #21 Romain Bogaerts (WF) def. #28 Cameron Norrie (TCU) 6-4, 6-4
2. #48 Nick Chappell (TCU) def. #70 Jon Ho (WF) 6-2, 6-7 (7-9), 7-6 (7-5)
3. Skander Mansouri (WF) def. Will Stein (TCU) 6-4, 6-4
4. Guillermo Nuez (TCU) def. Keivon Tabrizi (WF) 6-2, 6-4
5. Arnau Dachs (TCU) def. Christian Seraphim (WF) 6-4, 6-3
6. Maksim Kan (WF) def. #110 Facundo Lugones (TCU) 6-4, 4-6, 6-4
Doubles competition
1. #28 Christian Seraphim/Skander Mansouri (WF) def. #20 Chappell/Stein (TCU) 6-2
2. Jon Ho/Keivon Tabrizi (WF) def. Guillermo Nuez/Cameron Norrie (TCU) 6-4
3. Hudson Blake/Facundo Lugones (TCU) def. Sam Bloom/Romain Bogaerts (WF) 6-3
Match Notes
TCU 9-5 (0-1 Big 12); National ranking #13
Wake Forest 9-4 (0-1 ACC); National ranking #20
Order of finish: Doubles (1,3,2); Singles (4,5,3,1,6,2)
Used ITA shortened scoring format.
T-3:40 A-119
Doubles Records: TCU 16-11, Wake Forest 23-7
Projected Doubles Lineups with W-L ( ):
1. #23 Chappell/Stein (TCU 9-12) vs. #13 Seraphim/Mansouri (WF 17-7)
1. #23 Chappell/Stein (TCU 9-12) vs. #13 Seraphim/Mansouri (WF 17-7)
2. #30 Trevor Johnson/Norrie (TCU 13-2) vs. Rubin/Ho (WF 15-5)
3. Hudson Blake/Nunez (TCU 7-2) vs. Tabrizi/Bogaerts (WF 8-4)
This will be a monster doubles point that I think may decide who wins the match. Wake has taken the doubles point in 5 of its last 6 matches while TCU has won it in 4 of its last 5. TCU is 4-9 in doubles against top 25 opponents while Wake is 5-4. I’m going to take Wake at #1 and #3 to claim the point and take the early 1-0 lead.
This will be a monster doubles point that I think may decide who wins the match. Wake has taken the doubles point in 5 of its last 6 matches while TCU has won it in 4 of its last 5. TCU is 4-9 in doubles against top 25 opponents while Wake is 5-4. I’m going to take Wake at #1 and #3 to claim the point and take the early 1-0 lead.
UTR Starting 6 Power Rating: TCU 84, Wake Forest 84
The UTR Power 6 is the combined UTRs of the starting 6 (rounded to a whole #). An individual win/loss to anyone with a UTR difference of 1.0 or greater would be considered an upset.
The UTR Power 6 is the combined UTRs of the starting 6 (rounded to a whole #). An individual win/loss to anyone with a UTR difference of 1.0 or greater would be considered an upset.
FYI, the number beside the player’s school is the player’s Universal Tennis Rating as of May 11th. For more details about UTR check out their website.
Projected Singles Lineups with UTRs in ( ):
1. #49 Nick Chappell (TCU 14.04) vs. #6 Noah Rubin (WF 15.18)
2. #59 Guillermo Nuez (TCU 14.00) vs. #16 Romain Bogaerts (WF 14.63)
3. #39 Cameron Norrie (TCU 14.31) vs. Skander Mansouri (WF 13.36)
4. Facundo Lugones (TCU 13.96) vs. #106 Jon Ho (WF 13.81)
5. Arnau Dachs (TCU 14.10) vs. Christian Seraphim (WF 13.70)
6. Will Stein (TCU 13.55) vs. Keivon Tabrizi (WF 13.04)
Others who could play: Trevor Johnson (TCU 13.30), Maksim Kan (WF 13.30)
Dual-Match Singles Records – # in ( ) is W-L vs. ranked:
Chappell 11-6 (4-6) vs. Rubin 21-3 (12-3)
Nunez 19-1 (5-1) vs. Bogaerts 21-4 (8-4)
Norrie 16-8 (5-7) vs. Mansouri 15-11 (1-7)
Lugones 15-5 (2-1) vs. Ho 17-8 (2-5)
Dachs 17-5 (3-4) vs. Seraphim 18-9
Stein 12-7 (0-2) vs. Tabrizi 8-6/Kan 10-5
1. Chappell has dropped 4 of his last 5 though he was ahead in both of his matches last weekend that went unfinished while Rubin has won 12 in a row and 16 of 17. Rubin is on a roll and I don’t see Chappell derailing him. Prediction: Rubin (WF) in 2.
2. Nunez has won 4 in a row since his only loss to USF’s Sasha Gozun (10 point TB instead of a 3rd set) while Bogaerts has won 9 in a row and he hasn’t dropped a set since April 3rd. Nunez is coming off a 6-3, 6-4 win over Tulsa’s #87 Alejandro Espejo while Bogaerts beat Pepperdine’s Rakshay Thakkar 6-1, 6-4. This will be the first time that Nunez has played a top 20 player and it’ll be by far his biggest test this year. I think Bogaerts has a little too much game and pulls it out in 3. Prediction: Bogaerts (WF) in 3
3. Norrie has won 8 in a row and is coming off a weekend where he only dropped 7 games in blowout wins over Tulsa’s Matthew Kirby and Marist’s Fredrik Bjerke while Mansouri has won 5 of his last 6 and is coming off a 6-4, 6-2 win over Pepperdine’s Stefan Menichella. Mansouri is 1-7 against ranked opponents and I don’t see him getting win #2 in this one. Prediction: Norrie (TCU) in 2
1. Chappell has dropped 4 of his last 5 though he was ahead in both of his matches last weekend that went unfinished while Rubin has won 12 in a row and 16 of 17. Rubin is on a roll and I don’t see Chappell derailing him. Prediction: Rubin (WF) in 2.
2. Nunez has won 4 in a row since his only loss to USF’s Sasha Gozun (10 point TB instead of a 3rd set) while Bogaerts has won 9 in a row and he hasn’t dropped a set since April 3rd. Nunez is coming off a 6-3, 6-4 win over Tulsa’s #87 Alejandro Espejo while Bogaerts beat Pepperdine’s Rakshay Thakkar 6-1, 6-4. This will be the first time that Nunez has played a top 20 player and it’ll be by far his biggest test this year. I think Bogaerts has a little too much game and pulls it out in 3. Prediction: Bogaerts (WF) in 3
3. Norrie has won 8 in a row and is coming off a weekend where he only dropped 7 games in blowout wins over Tulsa’s Matthew Kirby and Marist’s Fredrik Bjerke while Mansouri has won 5 of his last 6 and is coming off a 6-4, 6-2 win over Pepperdine’s Stefan Menichella. Mansouri is 1-7 against ranked opponents and I don’t see him getting win #2 in this one. Prediction: Norrie (TCU) in 2
4. Lugones has won 10 of his last 11 while Ho has split his last 4. Ho played doubles last weekend but didn’t play singles in either match. Lugones beat Marist’s Joseph Dube 6-1, 6-0 but he trailed Tulsa’s Juan Gonzalez 6-3, 4-5 when the match was stopped. If Ho plays and is close to 100% I think he wins this match. Prediction: Ho (WF) in 3
5. Dachs has won 6 in a row and is coming off a 6-2, 6-3 win over Tulsa’s Carlos Bautista while Seraphim has won 4 of his last 5 and was headed for a split in his last match with Pepperdine’s Pedro Iamachkine with the score 7-6, 1-5. Dachs won the regular season meeting 6-4, 6-3 and I think he wins this one by a similar score. Prediction: Dachs (TCU) in 2
6. Stein has won 5 of his last 6 while Tabrizi’s last 4 matches have gone unfinished though he led in 3. Stein’s last match against Tulsa’s Dylan McCloskey was stopped in the 1st set since they only had 5 indoors courts and his match was last on while Tabrizi led Pepperdine’s Lautaro Pane 6-2, 3-4 before that one was halted. Stein’s the better player and should win this one. Prediction: Stein (TCU) in 2
In my opinion this is the toughest of Round of 16 matches to pick a winner. When I was filling out my bracket last week I pencilled in a 4-3 win for Wake but after Jon Ho didn’t play singles last weekend that had me reconsidering my pick. I think for me it boils down to whether Ho plays because if he does play I think he and Wake Forest wins 4-3. If Ho doesn’t play singles and they have to move Seraphim up to 4, Tabrizi to 5, and Kan to 6 then I think TCU wins 4-2 or 4-3. I’ll stick with my original pick and go with Wake with Bogaerts clinching it at #2 singles. Prediction: Wake Forest 4-3
Should be a great match all around – all 6 singles matches should be close.
A. Hiltzik started the season 2-3. And has won 15 straight since then. I don't see him losing. Also the recent doubles lineup is a lot improved. 4-1 Illinois
I think 1 singles is huge, Schnur was very angry after losing to Gosea so is going to be fired up, I think 4-3 Tar Heels
I was going off completed matches but you are correct he has had a bunch of unfinished matches lately.
chappell is actually 2 loses and 4 U's in his last 6 matches<br /><br />http://www.itatennis.com/AwardsAndRankings/Results_Entry/LatestResults.htm
Maybe not Vukic, but I can see A. Hiltzik being beaten. Didn't notice that Esben beat Julian Cash of Mississippi State. That is a total surprise. He looked nearly immobile at the ACC. All the better for UNC.
Had to step out for a bit will be back to wrap it up after lunch. Really on the fence – toughest R16 match to pick IMO
Are you still working on the predictions for the Wake-TCU match? I'm interested to see those. Thanks.
True, but I'd be shocked if UNC takes down A. Hiltzik and Vukic again.
Esben beat Stanford at 6 last weekend. If he plays and is healthy he wins and so does unc
UNC was basically one hook call by Gosea from beating Illinois at home without Schneider. This time Schnur takes out Gosea and Clark beats Kopinski. Don't see Esben beating anyone after seeing his back brace in the ACC's. UNC 4-3.