Rajeev Ram (Illinois ’03) and Raven Klaasen also saw their run at Wimbledon come to an end after falling to Julien Benneteau and Edouard Roger-Vasselin 7-5, 6-4, 5-7, 7-6(5).
Texas Tech head coach Brett Masi announced the hiring of Jordan Szabo as his new assistant coach. Szabo played at Texas A&M from 2012 to 2015 and served as a student assistant this past season at Texas A&M while finishing up his degree.
San Diego’s Ryan Keckley announced that he’ll have four newcomers for this coming season after adding Guus Koevermans (UTR 13.33) to a recruiting class that already included Nico Borter (UTR 12.86), Joel Gamerov, and Garrett Kurtz (UTR 11.10). San Diego had five seniors on last year’s team four of which were starters.
Vanderbilt’s Ian Duvenhage announced that he’s added Panu Virtanen (UTR 13.41) to his recruiting class for this coming season. Vanderbilt’s other recruit for next season is California’s Billy Rowe (UTR 13.39). The Commodores will have to replace two starters after both Rhys Johnson and Kris Yee graduated.
Pro Circuit Roundup
$42.5K Bastad, Sweden, Challenger (Clay) – Virginia commit Carl Soderlund had never won a match at the Challenger level going into this week but he’s now into the semifinals after a 5-7, 6-1, 6-4 win over #159 Daniel Gimeno-Traver – next up #115 Roberto Carballes Baena.
$50K Cali, Colombia, Challenger (Clay) – #300 Nicolas Barrientos (West Florida ’08) advanced to his third Challenger quarterfinal this year after defeating #408 Erik Crepaldi 6-2, 6-2 – up next top seeded #77 Victor Estrella Burgos. #360 Jose Hernandez-Fernandez (North Carolina ’12) advanced to his first Challenger quarterfinal since last October after snapping #551 Roberto Quiroz’s (USC ’15) nine-match winning streak with a 6-2, 6-3 win – next up #183 Joao Souza.
$50K Winnetka, Illinois, Challenger (Hard) – Alex Sarkissian (Pepperdine ’14) was the only former college guy to make the quarterfinals but he went down 6-2, 6-4 to the top seed #122 Yoshihito Nishioka.
$10K Telfs, Austria, F1 (Clay) – #490 Yannick Hanfmann (USC ’15) is into his second semifinal of the year after defeating #630 Andrea Basso 6-1, 6-7(6), 6-1 – next up #571 Sebastian Ofner who defeated the top seed #435 Peter Nagy (Texas A&M Corpus ’15) 6-3, 6-4.
$10K De Haan, Belgium, F4 (Clay) – #899 Collin Altamirano (Virginia Jr) defeated Bart Stevens 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 and #1097 Jolan Cailleau (Texas Tech Sr) 6-4, 6-2 to advance to the quarterfinals. Next up for Altamirano is #1614 Yannick Vandenbulcke.
$10K Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, F14 (Hard) – #1707 Jarmere Jenkins (Virginia ’13) advanced to his first quarterfinal since March 2015 after defeating #718 Javier Pulgar-Garcia (San Diego State ’12) 6-4, 6-4 – next up is #820 Aziz Dougaz (Florida State Soph) who defeated #1076 Keelan Oakley 6-1, 6-4.
$10K Saarlouis, Germany, F6 (Clay) – #1064 Jakob Sude (Oklahoma State ’15) defeated fellow qualifer #1479 Manuel Pena Lopez 7-6(4), 6-3 to advance to his first quarterfinal since Waco last November. Sude will meet #669 Marvin Netuschil who defeated #1233 Julian Lenz (Baylor ’16) 6-4, 4-6, 6-4. #1945 Johann Willems (Texas Tech ’14) came through qualies and is now into the quarterfinals for the first time ever after upsetting the top seed #305 Marc Sieber 6-4, 6-3 – next up #648 Nik Razborsek.
$10K Harare, Zimbabwe, F3 (Hard) – #342 Nik Scholtz (Ole Miss ’15) and #356 Tucker Vorster (Ole Miss ’11) are the top two seeds and both are into the semifinals. Scholtz will meet #783 Andrea Vavassori while Vorster faces #434 Hugo Nys. Scholtz is trying win his eighth career Futures singles title while Vorster is seeking his sixth. Vorster is also the defending champion.
$25K Saskatoon, Canada, F5 (Hard) – It wasn’t the best day for guys with college ties as the group went 2-6 with both of those wins coming in matches that pitted one college guy against another. Wake Forest’s Dennis Uspensky led third seeded Blake Mott 5-1 in the third but Mott won five straight games and ended up taking the match in a third set tiebreak.
Second Round
[1] #311 Philip Bester def. [WC] Alexis Galarneau (NC State Commit) 6-4, 7-5
[7] #629 Brayden Schnur (North Carolina Sr) def. [Q] #1306 Justin Roberts (S. Florida Jr) 6-2, 6-3
[3] #357 Blake Mott def. #1317 Dennis Uspensky (Wake Forest Soph) 6-1, 4-6, 7-6(1)
[Q] Matthew Brooklyn (UCLA ’10) def. #1641 Joshua Peck (North Carolina Commit) 6-3, 6-0
#454 Edan Leshem def. #1284 Tim Kopinski (Illinois ’15) 6-2, 6-3
#341 Peter Polansky def. [Q] Andrew Korinek (LSU ’16) 6-2, 6-1
Quarterfinals
[7] #629 Brayden Schnur (North Carolina Sr) vs. [1] #311 Philip Bester
[Q] Matthew Brooklyn (UCLA ’10) vs. [3] #357 Blake Mott
$25K Bourg-en-bresse, France, F13 (Clay) – #553 Alexis Musialek (Kentucky ’12) has made his second quarterfinal in the last month after taking out the top seed #238 David Guez 6-0, 6-2 – next up #439 Lamine Ouahab.
$25K Napoli, Italy, F19 (Clay) – #870 Matteo Fago (Tennessee ’11) made it to his fourth quarterfinal of the year before falling to #317 Juan Pablo Paz 6-2, 6-4.
I added that notation for Kruunberg. <br /><br />Bart Scott leaving New Mexico must have done it for Ge – I remember when he was at Louisville for a couple of weeks before transferring to New Mexico a few years back.
For Kruunberg on the transfers page you might to add that he left Morehead because they dropped their tennis program. Also, what's up with Augustus Ge? This is the 3rd school he's transferred to.
Johnson was the only one of those truly dominant in college tennis, the other guys aren't even close. They should all get their degrees unless they plan on teaching tennis anyway when done playing competitively, and don't need the degree. Some go early because of the potential point boost and $ of the US Open WC. The most recent to go early, Mackie, won't do anthything over the long term, he will get to two or three hundred and level off. He does not have the big boy game, power, or size to win consistently at the next level. Will and determination gave him a couple good wins in the last couple years, but that only gets you so far without the rest. Stay in school kids.
I think in some of these cases while the guys have finished up their third year of eligibility they are more than a year away from getting their degree due to taking some falls off to play pro events. <br /><br />It is interesting that 3 of the last 4 NCAA singles champs have turned pro after their junior year (Mackie, Giron, Rola) with Ryan Shane the lone exception – in fact 5 of the last 6 NCAA Champs have been juniors with only Steve Johnson winning as a senior after he won it as a junior. <br /><br />With most guys peaking in their later 20s you'd think getting that degree and starting out on the tour around 22 or 23 would be more optimal but I guess it's a personal decision for everyone. <br /><br />They probably feel after playing on the pro tour (regardless of the length) they can always come back and get their degree later on – Bobby Reynolds and Devin Britton would be recent examples. <br /><br />
Bobby why do so many of the college guys that turn pro do so after their junior years? Why not grab the degree and then go out like Stevie did at USC?