Kentucky and Memphis were the big winners on Day 2 of the Florida Gulf Coast Invitational. Kentucky went 9-2 overall including 6-1 in singles with freshman Ryotaro Matsamura rolling for a second day in both singles and doubles. Memphis’s Ryan Peniston knocked off LSU’s #78 Justin Butch in 2 close sets and Memphis freshman Chris Patzanovsky picked up a win over LSU’s Tam Trinh. Sunday wraps up the tournament with each starting dual-match play in the coming weeks. Below the scores are quotes from 3 of the 4 coaches.
Saturday Results Singles/Doubles
Kentucky 6-1/3-1
Memphis 5-2/2-1
LSU 2-5/1-2
FGCU 1-6/1-3
2-day totals
Kentucky 11-4/4-4
Memphis 8-6/4-2
LSU 7-7/3-3
FGCU 3-12/3-5
Singles Competition
Nils Ellefsen (UK) def. Ricky Ventura (FGCU) 7-6 (7-3), 6-1
Trey Yates (UK) def. Eduardo Alfonzo (FGCU) 6-1, 6-2
Ryotaro Matsamura (UK) def. Ezequiel Cerrini (FGCU) 6-1, 6-1
Andres Alfonzo (FGCU) def. Austin Hussey (UK) 6-1, 2-6, 6-0
Jake Stefanik (UK) def. Oliver Landert (FGCU) 6-2, 6-3
Gus Benson (UK) def. Javier Fernandez (FGCU) 6-2, 6-2
Kevin Lai (UK) def. Lucas Vaz (FGCU) 6-3, 6-0
Ryan Peniston (Memphis) def. #78 Justin Butsch (LSU) 7-6 (7-4), 7-5
#87 Andrew Watson (Memphis) def. Andrew Korinek (LSU) 6-4, 6-4
Kai Lemke (Memphis) def. Boris Arias (LSU) 6-4, 7-6, 6-3
Chris Patzanovsky (Memphis) def. Tam Trinh (LSU) 6-1, 6-4
Simon Freund (LSU) def. Louis Asser (Memphis) 6-4, 6-2
Gabor Csonka (LSU) def. Shakeel Manji (Memphis) 6-0, 5-7, 6-3
Felix Rauch (Memphis) def. Cameron Andry (LSU) 6-4, 6-4
Doubles Competition
E. Alfonzo/A. Alfonzo (FGCU) def. Ellefsen/Lai (UK) 6-4
Matsamura/Wallart (UK) def. Landert/Vaz (FGCU) 6-3
Yates/Benson (UK) def. Chaffin/Perrigan (FGCU) 6-3
Hussey/Stefanik (UK) def. Cerrini/Fernandez (FGCU) 6-3
Lemke/Asser (Memphis) def. Butsch/Freund (LSU) 7-6
Peniston/Rauch (Memphis) def. Trinh/Korinek (LSU) 6-3
Arias /Csonka (LSU) def. Watson /Manji (Memphis) 6-3
“It was a solid day, winning three of four doubles matches and six of seven singles against the home team is never easy, said fourth-year UK head coach Cedric Kauffman said. “Nils [Ellefsen] and Kevin [Lai] have to perform better for us to be special. Too many unforced errors, too many position breakdowns and low percentages on their first hits. We need them to be great.
“Austin [Hussey] fought hard to come back and force a third set, but he stopped swinging and moving in the beginning of the third. He gave too much away with unforced errors, but he’s grown a lot since September. If he continues to develop, he will make an impact. The others played solid, and that’s all we need from everyone. We’ll have a good test tomorrow again in an tough SEC team.
“I was really happy with the way our young team competed today, assistant coach Matt Emery remarked. “I thought Ryotaro has done a phenomenal job the past two days of taking care of business. To go 4-0 in your first two days of competition is never easy. I see him being a rock for us this year.
“I was really proud of Trey for bouncing back after a tough first day yesterday. For us to be successful, we will need a lot of days like today from him this year.
“Austin did a great job of coming back in the second against a tough outdoor player. This experience is invaluable to him as a freshman. He has improved as much as I have seen anyone improve at this level in one semester.
“Today was a tough day,” said FGCU head coach CJ Weber. “I felt Kentucky competed really well but I hope we are able to learn from these moments to get better. That’s what these matches are all about. Andres was the player to go 2-0 today, so I’m very happy for him. He and his brother played an amazing doubles match to win at the number one spot. I’m happy he also got a win in singles because he’s striking the ball well.”
“We got a lot out of today’s matches, LSU Head Coach Jeff Brownsaid. “It was another competitive day and it was also extremely warm so that was a bonus.
Washington opened up its season by beating Seattle twice both by 7-0 scores. The Huskies only dropped 1 set in singles in the two combined dual-matches – UW recap
Washington 7, Seattle 0
Doubles:
1 (UW) Foley/Sommer def. (SU) Berkabile/Alderson 7-5
2 (UW) Douglas/Watanabe def. (SU) Stormans/Leahy 6-4
3 (UW) Lam/Stewart def. (SU) Schoettler/Kalmus 6-1
Order of Finish: 3, 2, 1
Singles:
1 Mitch Stewart (UW 13.93) def. John Stormans (SU 11.49) 6-2, 6-0
2 Jake Douglas (UW 13.37) def. Tanner Berkabile (SU 11.32) 6-2, 6-2
3 Enzo Sommer (UW 13.63) def. Ian Clare (SU 11.56) 6-3, 6-1
4 Rishabh Raman (UW 12.72) def. Matt Alderson (SU 11.27) 6-1, 6-0
5 Sebastian Hawken (UW 12.70) def. Michael Schoettler (SU 11.60) 6-4, 2-6, 1-0(8)
6 Piers Foley (UW 12.49) def. Connor Leahy (SU 11.56) 6-0, 6-1
Order of Finish: 4, 6, 1, 3, 2, 5
Washington 7, Seattle 0
Doubles:
1 (SU) Berkabile/Stormans def. (UW) Foley/Sommer 6-4
2 (UW) Lam/Watanabe def. (SU) Alderson/Leahy 6-3
3 (UW) Hakak/Hawken def. (SU) Nguyen/Kalmus 6-2
Order of Finish: 1, 3, 2
Singles:
1 Mitch Stewart (UW 13.93) def. John Stormans (SU 11.49) 6-1, 6-2
2 Gal Hakak (UW 13.42) def. Tanner Berkabile (SU 11.32) 6-0, 6-0
3 Joao Barra (UW 12.86) def. Ian Clare (SU 11.56) 6-0, 6-1
4 Rishabh Raman (UW 12.72) def. Matt Alderson (SU 11.27) 6-1, 6-1
5 Kawika Lam (UW 12.13) def. Michael Schoettler (SU 11.60) 6-4, 6-2
6 Sebastian Hawken (UW 12.70) def. Connor Leahy (SU 11.56) 6-0, 6-1
Order of Finish: 2, 6, 4, 3, 5, 1
Alex Sarkissian (Pepperdine ’14 – 14.54) qualified for his second career ATP main draw by defeating Poland’s Lukasz Kubot (14.63) 6-3, 6-3. Sarkissian broke Kubot early to go up 2-1 and then broke him again to go up 4-1. Sarkissian was broken serving for the set up 5-2 but he’d break back on the next game to take the opening set 6-3. There would only be one break of serve in the second set with Alex breaking Kubot to go up 4-2 and then he’d hold comfortably two more times to close out the 6-3, 6-3 win. Sarkissian picks up 12 points and $1840 for qualifying – next up he faces #58 Simone Bolelli (15.50).
Illinois sophomore Aleks Vukic (14.49) came up short in his attempt to qualify in Sydney as he went down 6-1, 7-6(7) to Germany’s #264 Maximilian Marterer (15.05). Vukic only broke serve once but it came at a good time with Marterer serving for the match up 6-1, 5-4. Vukic went down an early mini-break in the tiebreaker but fought back from 2-5 down to even it at 5-5. Vukic fired an ace facing match point at 5-6 and had a set point after winning the next point. Unfortunately Marterer took the next 3 points to win it 6-1, 7-6(7).
TCU sophomore Cameron Norrie (14.68) came up well in short in his attempt to qualify in Auckland, New Zealand as 2004 NCAA Champion and Baylor graduate Benjamin Becker (15.17) rolled to a 6-1, 6-2 win in a match that took just 49 minutes.
Both of the former college guys lost in the semifinals of the Los Angeles F1 Futures:
Semifinals:
#351 Stefan Kozloz def. #261 Tennys Sandgren (Tennessee ’11) 6-1, 6-1
#303 Philip Bester def. #468 Clay Thompson (UCLA ’14) 6-3, 6-3
The qualifying draws in Long Beach are loaded with the most of the same guys that were playing in Los Angeles while there are a lot of college guys playing on clay down in Plantation, Florida.
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