Final Day of Regional Play – Sakinis Wins Northeast & Rinderknech Wins Texas

Dartmouth’s Dovydas Sakinis was the #1 seed for a reason as he proved his worth today when he ran through Columbia freshman Victor Pham to win the Northeast Region singles title.

Sakinis got the first break of the match when he broke Pham to go up 5-3 then followed that up with a hold from 40-15 to take the opening set 6-3.  Sakinis went up an early break in the second set and then went up 3-1 after holding on the deciding point. Sakinis would break again to go up 5-2 and then the big lefty would close out the Championship after hitting a big serve out wide followed by a big forehand crosscourt winner to seal the 6-3, 6-2 win.

Comments from Dartmouth recap
“I am very happy for Dovydas, head coach Chris Drake said. “Any time you get to this stage of the tournament, you hope to be able to bring your best level of tennis. There was no doubt that Dovydas was able to do that. From the first point, he played an extremely professional match. Once he got ahead, he never let his opponent mount any legitimate comeback.

Northeast (New Haven, CT) – Singles Draw 

Singles Championship 
[1] Dovydas Sakinis (Dartmouth/13.80) def. [5] Victor Pham (Columbia/13.91) 6-3, 6-2

Photo Courtesy of Dartmouth

Doubles Championship 
[5] Richard Pham/Shawn Hadavi (Columbia) def. Diego Pedraza/Roko Glasnovic (Dartmouth) 2-6, 6-3, 1-0(8)

For a full list of qualifiers for November’s National Indoor Intercollegiates in New York click here.

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Texas (Houston, TX) – Draws – Texas Tech’s Hugo Dojas and Felipe Soares came into the Texas Regional as the #1 seed and they took everyone’s best shot and came out on top after defeating Texas A&M’s Shane Vinsant and Arthur Rinderknech 6-4, 6-1 in the doubles final.  Dojas and Soares jumped out to a 3-0 lead before Vinsant and Rinderknech got it back on serve at 3-4. After a few holds Dojas and Soares would break to win the opening set 6-4 and then they’d keep the pedal to the floor and run away in the second set.  Last year’s NCAA runner-ups defeated 2 teams from Texas, 2 teams from SMU, and the 1 from Texas A&M.

Doubles Semifinals
Dojas/Soares (Texas Tech) def. Johnson/Johnson (SMU) 7-6(3), 6-3
Vinsant/Rinderknech (aTm) def. Sendegeya/Mylnikov (Texas Tech) 6-1, 6-0

Doubles Championship 
[1] Hugo Dojas/Felipe Soares (Texas Tech) def. [5] Shane Vinsant/Arthur Rinderknech (aTm) 6-4, 6-1

SMU’s Hunter Johnson made one heck of a run at the Texas Regional but he wasn’t able to overcome “Artillery” Arthur Rinderknech as the Aggie sophomore rolled to a 6-0, 6-2 win in the singles championship. Rinderknech was playing his 4th match of the day after winning a doubles semi, losing a doubles final, winning a singles semi, and then playing in the singles final.  Johnson was playing his 3rd match of the day with he and his twin brother Yates coming up short in the doubles semi before he bounced back and won in the singles semifinal.

Rinderknech went a perfect 6-0 on the week and didn’t drop a set in route to his Championship while Johnson ended up going 6-1 with wins over #18 Felipe Soares, #81 Alex Sendegeya, #101 Hugo Dojas, plus a strong Jerry Lopez.

Semifinals 
Hunter Johnson (SMU/12.66) def. [8] Alex Sendegeya (Texas Tech/14.10) 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(5)
[4] Arthur Rinderknech (Texas A&M/14.51) def. [15] Nate Lammons (SMU/13.43) 6-3, 6-4

Singles Championship 
[4] Arthur Rinderknech (Texas A&M/14.51) def. Hunter Johnson (SMU/12.66) 6-0, 6-2

Photo Courtesy of Texas A&M (Rinderknech on left/Vinsant on right)