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Down to the Final 4

by | Oct 11, 2015 | Blog

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Saturday was a busy day for the guys in Tulsa with both the Round of 16 and Quarterfinals held within hours of each other but by the time the dust cleared we had our final 4 and they all happen to be top 16 seeds.

The 8 morning matches saw 6 finish in straight sets with Tom Fawcett, Thai-Son Kwiatkowski, Hugo Di Feo, Dominik Koepfer, Uros Petronijevic, and Andre Goransson each winning somewhat comfortably.

Both Ronnie Schneider and Konrad Zieba needed 3 sets in their Round of 16 matches though both cruised in the 3rd set taking the final set by 6-2 scores.  The one thing that was a little strange was the fact that Ronnie Schneider and Shane Vinsant started their Round of 16 match a good two and a half hours after several of the other matches. In fact as the 3rd set started the 3 other quarterfinal matches had already began.

Cal’s Andre Goransson was the first to punch his ticket to the semifinals after he dispatched San Diego’s Uros Petronijevic 6-4, 6-3.  Goransson broke Petronijevic from 15-40 to take the opening set 6-4 and then he jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the 2nd set before serving it out at love to finish off the straight set win.

Ohio State’s Hugo Di Feo had already won 6 matches on the week and it looked like he was going to make it 7 when he led Tulane’s Dominik Koepfer 6-3, 5-4.  Koepfer was serving to stay in the match but he’d fall behind 30-40 which meant Di Feo had 2 match points.  Koepfer fought off the first match point but it looked like Di Feo had the second one in the bag. Di Feo worked the point with his forehand and then came inside the service line to hit an overhead but he hit it right down the T which happened to be where Koepfer was standing. Koepfer hit a reflex backhand winner to get the hold and that was pretty much all she wrote as Koepfer wouldn’t lose another game to take home a 3-6, 7-5, 6-0 win.

Virginia’s Thai-Son Kwiatkowski, who came into the tournament with the highest Universal Tennis Rating at 14.62, dropped the opening set to Northwestern’s Konrad Zieba 7-5 but turned it around quickly by taking the second set 6-2 and then jumped out to a 3-1 lead in the 3rd in route to closing out the 5-7, 6-2, 6-3 win.

In the final quarterfinal of the day it was Stanford’s Tom Fawcett knocking off UNC’s Ronnie Schneider 6-2, 7-5. Fawcett had a good extra hour of rest in between matches since he finished his Round of 16 match off in straight set so one would think that had to help him a little. 

The ITA’s recap has some quotes from each of the quarterfinal winners. 
All-American Round of 16 Results:

[9-16] Tom Fawcett (Stanford) def. [Q] Marko Krickovic (Auburn) 6-4, 6-0
[7] Ronnie Schneider (North Carolina) def. Shane Vinsant (Texas A&M) 6-3, 6-7(3), 6-2
[3] Thai-Son Kwiatkowski (Virginia) def. Florian Lakat (Cal) 6-3, 6-4
[Q] Konrad Zieba (Northwestern) def. Dovydas Sakinis (Dartmouth) 7-6(5), 2-6, 6-2
[Q] Hugo Di Feo (Ohio St) def.  Nick Crystal (USC) 6-3, 7-6(4)
[4] Dominik Koepfer (Tulane) def. [9-16] Benjamin Lock (Florida St) 6-4, 6-4
Uros Petronijevic (San Diego) def. Chris Diaz (Ohio St) 6-3, 6-4
[9-16] Andre Goransson (Cal) def. Aron Hiltzik (Illinois) 6-2, 6-1

Quarterfinals Results:

[9-16] Tom Fawcett (Stanford) def. [7] Ronnie Schneider (North Carolina) 6-2, 7-5
[3] Thai-Son Kwiatkowski (Virginia) def. [Q] Konrad Zieba (Northwestern) 5-7, 6-2, 6-3
[4] Dominik Koepfer (Tulane) def. [Q] Hugo Di Feo (Ohio St) 3-6, 7-5, 6-0
[9-16] Andre Goransson (Cal) def. Uros Petronijevic (San Diego) 6-4, 6-3

Semifinal Matchups:

[3] Thai-Son Kwiatkowski (Virginia) vs. [9-16] Tom Fawcett (Stanford) 
[4] Dominik Koepfer (Tulane) vs. [9-16] Andre Goransson (Cal)