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Florida State welcomed in Florida Atlantic, South Alabama, Mercer, Troy, Florida A&M, and Georgia State for the FSU Invitational this weekend but the hosts couldn’t pull off the weekend sweep after Georgia State surprised them 4-2 in the championship match. FSU won the doubles point fairly comfortably with wins at No. 1 and No. 2 but Georgia State rebounded in singles taking four first sets. FSU’s Aziz Dougaz put the Seminoles in front 2-0 with a straight set win at No. 1 but Georgia State closed out each of the four matches where it won a first set with Jack MacFarlane clinching at No. 6 with a 6-2, 7-6(6) win over Terrell Whitehurst. Georgia State went 3-0 on the weekend with a 5-0 win over Florida A&M and a 4-0 win over Troy on Saturday. 

 
Post-Match comments from GSU’s recap
“This was definitely a great start to our season and I couldn’t be more proud of our guys,” head coach Brett Ross said. “I thought we got better every match this weekend and we showed that we were strong at all spots in the lineup. I think this shows the team what we are capable of and it should inspire us to work hard as we get ready for more big matches during the rest of the season.”
 
Post-Match comments from FSU’s recap
“I think it is very similar to the last match- clearly there’s some things we’ve got to do better,” head coach Dwayne Hultquist said. “We’ve got to finish points better, finish sets better.”
 
“I think we’ve got to learn, I think we’ve got learn from it,” Hultquist said. “Last year we weren’t ready to go at one stage and lost to Miami, and in the same week we beat the number one team in the country. I think we’ve got to learn from some of these mistakes.”
 
Georgia State 4, Florida State 2
Jan 15, 2017 at Scott Speicher Tennis Center
Singles Competition
1. #71 Aziz Dougaz (FS 14.13) def. Jannis Koeke (GSU 13.14) 6-3, 6-3
2. Zackery Kennedy (GSU 13.02) def. #59 Guy Iradukunda (FS 13.36) 6-3, 7-6 (7-5)
3. Quentin Coulaud (GSU 12.69) vs. Lucas Poullain (FS 13.42) 6-7, 6-1, unf. 
4. Andrei Andrukhou (GSU 12.97) def. Jose Gracia (FS 13.18) 7-5, 6-3
5. Sebastian Acuna (GSU 12.92) def. Terrance Whitehurst (FS 13.07) 6-4, 6-4
6. Jack MacFarlane (GSU 12.68) def. Terrell Whitehurst (FS 13.26) 6-2, 7-6 (8-6)
Doubles Competition
1. Guy Iradukunda/Aziz Dougaz (FS) def. Zackery Kennedy/Jannis Koeke (GSU) 6-3
2. Lucas Poullain/Jose Gracia (FS) def. Sebastian Acuna/Andrei Andrukhou (GSU) 6-2
3. Quentin Coulaud/Felipe Jaworski (GSU) def. Terrell Whitehurst/Terrance Whitehurst (FS) 4-3
Match Notes:
Georgia State 3-0
Florida State 2-1
Order of finish: Doubles (2,1); Singles (1,4,2,5,6)

 
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Fourth ranked Texas overcame the loss of the doubles point to defeat SMU 4-1. The Longhorns took five of six first sets in singles and managed to close three of those out in straight sets plus Christian Sigsgaard won in three sets at No. 1. 

“I thought it was a great team win today,” Texas head coach Michael Center added. “The guys had a great attitude and just a great team spirit. Obviously we have a lot of work to do. But, it’s tough to beat SMU here, so I was really proud of the guys. We’re going to get ready to go play two more tough road matches at Tulsa and Arkansas next weekend.”

“It was a very hard fought match,” SMU head coach Carl Neufeld said. “I was really proud of the fact that we fought so hard. I don’t think we played our best and that’s something that makes me feel somewhat good about it. There were tough matches all the way down. There were two matches at the end I thought we were going to win, but we didn’t. We all just have to get a little bit better. We will be competing in and enjoying some very exciting matches this year.”

No. 4 Texas 4, SMU 1
Jan 15, 2017 at Dallas, Texas (SMU Tennis Complex)
Doubles – Order of Finish: 2, 1, 3
1. Ronald Slobodchikiv/Samm Butler (SMU) def. Christian Sigsgaard/Yuya Ito (UT), 7-5
2. George Goldhoff/Leo Telles (UT) def. Yates Johnson/Markus Kerner (SMU), 6-0
3. Hunter Johnson/Arkadijs Slobodkins (SMU) def. Harrison Scott/Julian Zlobinsky (UT), 7-6
Singles – Order of Finish: 2, 4, 1, 5
1. No. 6 Christian Sigsgaard (UT) def. Ronald Slobodchikiv (SMU), 6-0, 3-6, 6-3
2. No. 36 Yuya Ito (UT) def. Hunter Johnson (SMU), 7-5, 6-4
3. George Goldhoff (UT) vs. Samm Butler (SMU), 7-6, 2-3, susp.
4. No. 47 Harrison Scott (UT) def. Markus Kerner (SMU), 6-3, 7-5
5. Julian Zlobinsky (UT) def. Yates Johnson (SMU), 7-6, 6-2
6. Rodrigo Banzer (UT) vs. Arkadijs Slobodkins (SMU), 4-6, 6-2, 1-1, susp.

 

Thirteenth ranked Northwestern got all it wanted and more in Nashville against Vanderbilt but in the end it was the Cats coming away with a 4-3 win. Northwestern took the doubles point and then captured four of five first sets at the five-court indoor facility. Northwestern freshman Dominik Stary cruised at No. 4 to make it 2-0 but Vanderbilt freshman Billy Rowe put the Dores on the board with a three-set win at No. 5. Northwestern senior Strong Kirchheimer made it 3-1 with a straight set win at No. 1 but Vanderbilt sophomore Cameron Klinger and junior Baker Newman each came back from a set down to win at No. 2 and No. 3. The match would be decided at No. 6 between Northwestern sophomore Ben Vandixhorn and Vanderbilt junior Tate Allwardt. This one didn’t start until the match at No. 4 finished, due to the five-court setup, so as Vanderbilt came back on the other courts it had to get tense. They split the first two sets and were all even at 3-3 in the third but Vandixhorn turned it on late and took the final three games to seal the team win.  

Comments from NU’s recap
“Great competitive effort from the team today,” head coach Arvid Swan said. “Vanderbilt is such a good team and extremely well-coached. Our guys really fought hard throughout the match.”
 
“Ben did a very good job of executing the game plan in critical situations,” Swan said. “His effort level and positive approach throughout the match was impressive.”
 
Comments from Vandy’s recap
“There are a lot more positives that we take away from these matches today than negatives, that’s for sure,” said head coach Ian Duvenhage. “We got ourselves in a hole today against a top-20 team in Northwestern by losing the doubles point, then we lost almost every first set. We slowly but surely turned things around and came back, and that was encouraging. We gave ourselves a chance and I really like the competiveness and fight in this team.”
 
“Both Baker and Cam did really good jobs today… I don’t think we’ve ever defeated Shropshire and Zieba. Those matches were not easy, and our guys had to grind. I thought for his first foray in a college match format, Billy Rowe was terrific. Those matches, and Panu and Baker’s win at No. 2 doubles were really positive things we take away from today’s matches. 
 
#13 Northwestern 4, Vanderbilt 3
Jan 13, 2017 at Nashville, Tenn. (Currey Tennis Center)
Singles Competition
1. #26 Strong Kirchheimer (NU) def. #97 Daniel Valent (VANDY) 6-4, 6-4
2. Cameron Klinger (VANDY) def. Konrad Zieba (NU) 6-7, 6-3, 6-3
3. Baker Newman (VANDY) def. Sam Shropshire (NU) 6-7, 6-3, 7-5
4. Dominik Stary (NU) def. Panu Virtanen (VANDY) 6-1, 6-3
5. Billy Rowe (VANDY) def. Jason Seidman (NU) 6-3, 1-6, 6-1
6. Ben Vandixhorn (NU) def. Tate Allwardt (VANDY) 3-6, 6-4, 6-3
Doubles Competition
1. Konrad Zieba/Sam Shropshire (NU) def. Cameron Klinger/Billy Rowe (VANDY) 6-1
2. Baker Newman/Panu Virtanen (VANDY) def. Strong Kirchheimer/Dominik Stary (NU) 6-3
3. Michael Lorenzini/Chris Ephron (NU) def. Pen Binet/Daniel Valent (VANDY) 6-3
Match Notes:
Order of finish: Doubles (1,2,3); Singles (4,5,1,2,3,6)
 
Other Notable Dual-Match Results:
 
Men:
  • Central Florida ran its record to 2-0 with a tight 4-1 win over New Mexico. UCF won the doubles point by winning a pair of tiebreaks and then three of six singles matches went the distance though Danny Kerznerman managed to clinch the win at No. 6 when he closed out the second set in a tiebreak. 
  • San Diego won its season opener 6-1 over Utah State with Josh Page clinching the win at No. 3. 
  • #12 Oklahoma kicked off its season with a pair of lopsided wins over Abilene Christian and Nebraska-Omaha. 
 
Women:
  • #11 Georgia Tech picked up a 6-1 road win over Oregon with the Ducks coached by former Yellow Jacket Alison Silvero
  • #16 South Carolina opened up its season with a 6-1 road win over Furman. The Paladins did force three third sets in singles. 
  • Alabama kicked off its season with a pair of quick shutout wins over UAB and Alabama State. 
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It’ll be an all-Baylor singles final at the Sherwood Cup after Juan Benitez and Max Tchoutakian picked up wins with Benitez only dropping two games while Tchoutakian needed three sets to get past UCLA freshman Evan Zhu. The pair will also play in the doubles final against USC’s Rob Bellamy and Jake DeVine.
 
Sherwood Cup – Singles Semifinals
[5] Max Tchoutakian (Baylor) vs. Evan Zhu (UCLA) 4-6, 6-1, 6-4
Juan Benitez (Baylor) def. Joseph Di Giulio (UCLA) 6-0, 6-2
 
Doubles Semifinals
Juan Benitez/Max Tchoutakian (Baylor) def. Ben Goldberg/Logan Staggs (UCLA) 6-0
Robbie Bellamy/Jake DeVine (USC) def. Constantin Frantzen/Bjoern Petersen (Baylor) 6-3
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Stanford sophomore Melissa Lord won the Freeman Memorial Championships by defeating Florida freshman Ingrid Neel in the semifinals and UCLA freshman Ena Shibahara in the finals while North Carolina’s Jessie Aney and Hayley Carter won the doubles title. Full results from the other flights are available here
 

 
Singles Flight 1 
SF: (1) #4 Ena Shibahara (UCLA) def. (6) #22 Mayar Sherif Ahmed (PEPP) 6-4, 6-2
SF: Melissa Lord (STAN) def. Ingrid Neel (UF) 6-7, 6-4, 6-3
F: Melissa Lord (STAN) def. (1) #4 Ena Shibahara (UCLA) 6-3, 6-3
 
Doubles Flight 1
SF: (1) #2 Jessie Aney/Hayley Carter (UNC) def. Chalena Scholl/Kaitlyn McCarthy (DUKE) 6-2
SF: (2) #3 Mayar Sherif Ahmed/Christine Maddox (PEPP) def. (4) #9 Ena Shibahara/Jada Hart (UCLA) 7-6

F: (1) #2 Jessie Aney/Hayley Carter (UNC) def. (2) #3 Mayar Sherif Ahmed/Christine Maddox (PEPP) 7-6

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Pepperdine’s Stefan Menichella won the National Collegiate Tennis Classic men’s singles title when his opponent from Utah retired in the second set and he also won the doubles tile with he and Jack Van Slyke defeated a team from Utah. The women’s singles final wasn’t played due to rain wiping out the first day so USC’s Gabby Smith and Texas’s Bianca Turati were named co-champs after each won their semifinals matches. 
 
National College Tennis Classic results
 
Men’s Singles
SF: Menichella (Pepperdine) w/o Joenhagen (USF) [travel]
SF: (2) Micevski (Utah) def. Iamachkine (Pepperdine) 5-7, 6-1, 2-0 RET.
F: Menichella (Pepperdine) def. (2) Micevski (Utah) 6-1, 3-2 RET.
 
Women’s Singles
SF: Gabby Smith (USC) def. Caroline Lampl (Stanford) 6-4, 6-1
SF: Bianca Turati (Texas) def. Angela Kulikov (USC) 5-4, RET.
 
Doubles
SF: Woolley/Little (Utah) def. Hadlich/Sidney (Pepperdine) 6-3
SF: Van Slyke/Menichella (Pepperdine) def. Hill/Iamachkine (Pepperdine) w/o [inj.]
F: Van Slyke/Menichella (Pepperdine) def. Woolley/Little (Utah) 6-4
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Columbia took it to Georgia at the MLK Invitational with the Lions sweeping the three doubles matches and winning five of seven singles match. Georgia Tech won three of four doubles matches against Illinois and then the teams split eight singles matches with each winning four. 
 
Georgia Tech/Illinois
 
Doubles Results
Christopher Eubanks/Carlos Benito (Georgia Tech) def. Alex Jesse/Gui Gomes (Illinois) 7-5
Daniel Yun/Carlos Divar (Georgia Tech) def. Aleks Vukic/Zeke Clark (Illinois) 6-1
Aleks Kovacevic/Aron Hiltzik (Illinois) def. Cole Fiegel/Andrew Li (Georgia Tech) 6-4
Chris Yun/Michael Kay (Georgia Tech) def. Pablo Landa/Noe Khlif (Illinois) 6-4
 

Singles Results
Chris Yun (Georgia Tech) def. Noe Khlif (Illinois Men’s Tennis) 7-6 (7-2), 1-6, 6-3
#9 Christopher Eubanks (Georgia Tech) def. Aleks Vukic (Illinois) 6-4, 4-6, 6-3
#100 Gui Gomes (Illinois) def. Carlos Benito (Georgia Tech) 6-2, 6-4
#29 Aron Hiltzik (Illinois) def. #61 Andrew Li (CT 6) 6-4, 6-2
#85 Aleks Kovacevic (Illinois) def. Carlos Divar (Georgia Tech) 6-3, 4-6, 6-2
Zeke Clark (Illinois) def. Daniel Yun (Georgia Tech) 6-3, 4-6, 6-3
Michael Kay (Georgia Tech) def. Pablo Landa (Illinois) 6-3, 6-3
Elijah Melendez (Georgia Tech) def. Vuk Budic (Illinois) 6-4, 6-4

 

Columbia/Georgia

Doubles Results
#8 Richard Pham/Victor Pham (Columbia) def. Wayne Montgomery/Jan Zielinski (Georgia) 6-3
#34 Shawn Hadavi/Jackie Tang (Columbia) def. Walker Duncan/Emil Reinberg (Georgia) 7-5
Adam Ambrozy/Christopher Grant (Columbia) def. Robert Loeb/Alex Phillips (Georgia) 6-3

Singles Results
Jan Zielinski (Georgia) def. Richard Pham (Columbia) 6-1,6-4
#22 Wayne Montgomery (Georgia) def. #40 Victor Pham (Columbia) 3-6,6-4,6-0
Jackie Tang (Columbia) def. #31 Emil Reinberg (Georgia) 6-4, 6-7(7), 7-6(3)
Timothy Wang (Columbia) def. Robert Loeb (Georgia) 6-4, 6-1
Alex Keyser (Columbia) def. #79 Walker Duncan (Georgia) 6-4,7-5
William Matheson (Columbia) def. Alex Phillips (Georgia) 6-1,6-3
Christopher Grant (Colmbia) def. Samuel Dromsky (Georgia) 6-4, 6-1 

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Michigan Invitational (Michigan/Arizona State/Tennessee/DePaul) results
Indiana Winter Invite (Indiana, Colorado, Marquette, Abilene Christian) results
Cal Winter Invite (Cal, Fresno State, St. Mary’s, Cal Poly) results 
 
Monday, January 16th
Men:
M: MLK Invitational – Georgia Tech, Georgia, Columbia, Illinois – hidden-dual format (9 a.m. ET) – Live Scoring
M: Citadel at NC State (10 a.m. ET) – Live Scoring/Video
M: North Florida at Tennessee (10 a.m. ET) – Live Scoring/Blog
M: Eastern Kentucky at #15 Kentucky (10 a.m. ET) – Kentucky Twitter
M: Arizona at Central Florida (12 p.m. ET) – Live Scoring/Video (select USTA Natl Camp College Ctr)
M: Citadel at NC State (1 p.m. ET) – Live Scoring
M: Dayton at #15 Kentucky (1 p.m. ET) – Kentucky Twitter
M: Chattanooga at Middle Tennessee St (2 p.m. ET) – Live Scoring
M: Alcorn State at Tulane (2X – 2 p.m. ET) – Tulane Twitter
M: East Tennessee State at Alabama (2 p.m. ET) – Live Scoring
M: Austin Peay at Tennessee (2 p.m. ET) – Live Scoring/Blog
M: Elon at Duke (3 p.m. ET) – Live Scoring/Video (select Duke)
M: UNC Greensboro at #9 North Carolina (3 p.m. ET) – Live Scoring
M: Tennessee State at Middle Tennessee St (6 p.m. ET) – Live Scoring
M: UC Santa Cruz at #10 USC (6 p.m. ET) – Video (select University of Southern California)
M: Samford at Alabama (7 p.m. ET) – Live Scoring
M: UNC Greensboro at #9 North Carolina (3 p.m. ET) – Live Scoring
M: Tennessee State at Middle Tennessee St (6 p.m. ET) – Live Scoring
M: UC Santa Cruz at #10 USC (6 p.m. ET) – Video (select University of Southern California)
M: Samford at Alabama (7 p.m. ET) – Live Scoring
 
Women:
W: College of Charleston at Wake Forest (10 a.m. ET) – Live Scoring
W: Florida State at Columbia (10 a.m. ET) – Columbia Twitter/Florida State Twitter
W: Winthrop at Wake Forest (2:30 p.m. ET) – Live Scoring
 
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Pro Circuit Results 
 
2014 NCAA singles champion Marcos Giron won his fifth career singles title with a straight set win over Virginia junior Collin Altamirano at the USA F2 in Long Beach, California. Giron opened up a 5-1 lead in the first set but Altamirano won five straight to go in front 6-5. Giron held to force a tiebreak and then after splitting the first four points of the tiebreak he won five of the last six to take it 7-3. The second set went just like the first except after Giron opened up a 5-1 lead he closed it out with a hold from 40/15 to win it 7-6, 6-1. 
 

 
A pair of former Texas A&M Aggies won the doubles title as Austin Krajicek (’11) and Jackson Withrow (’16) defeated Luke Bambridge and former Memphis Tiger Joe Salisbury in three sets. Krajicek and Withrow won the first set 6-3 but Bambridge and Salisbury took the second 6-3. Bambridge and Salisbury led 6-1 in the 10-point supertiebreak but Krajicek and Withrow won seven straight to go in front 8-6*. Bambridge and Salisbury took the next two to even it at 8-8 but Krajicek and Withrow took the final two to win it 6-3, 3-6, 10-8. It was Krajicek’s 24th career doubles title while it was Withrow’s second. 
 
Steve Pratt’s recap has some comments from Giron and Krajicek and so check that out here
 
$25K Long Beach USA F2 Futures 
Marcos Giron (UCLA ’14*) def. Collin Altamirano (Virginia Jr) 7-6(3), 6-1
[2] Austin Krajicek (Texas A&M ’11)/Jackson Withrow (Texas A&M ’16) def. Joe Salisbury (Memphis ’14)/Luke Bambridge 6-3, 3-6, 10-8
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Recent South Florida graduate Roberto Cid won his second career Futures singles title at the USA F3 in Plantation (FL) with a come from behind three-set win over 16-year-old Felix Auger-Alisassime. There were more service breaks than holds in this one with the pair combining to break service 17 times in 30 service games. Cid served for the first set twice, at 5-4 and 6-5, but FAA broke both times to force a tiebreak. Cid led 4-3* in the tiebreak but FAA won the final four points to take it 7-4. FAA served for the match up 5-4 in the second but Cid broke in a one-deuce game and then each held to send the set to another tiebreak. Cid fell behind 2-0 in the tiebreak then he won seven of the next eight points to take it 7-3. The third set turned to a rout as Cid won 28 of 41 points and closed out the final set 6-0. 
 
$15K Plantation USA F3 Futures 
F: Roberto Cid (South Florida ’16) def. Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-7(4), 7-6(2), 6-0
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2015 UCLA grad Robin Anderson won her second career doubles title at the ITF $25K in Daytona Beach as she and Anhelina Kalinina defeated the top seeds Paula Kania and Katarzyna Piter 6-4, 6-1.
 

 
$25K ITF Daytona Beach
D/F: Robin Anderson (UCLA ’15)/Anhelina Kalinina def. [1] Paula Kania/Katarzyna Piter 6-4, 6-1
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Australian Open Men’s Singles
R1: [19] John Isner (Georgia ’07) def. Konstantin Kravchuk 6-3, 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-1
R1: [Q] Noah Rubin (Wake Forest ’15*) def. [Q} Bjorn Fratangelo 6-7(4), 7-5, 3-6, 6-2, 6-2
R1: Steve Johnson (USC ’12) def. Federico Delbonis 6-3, 6-4, 6-4
R2: [19] John Isner (Georgia ’07) vs. Mischa Zverev
R2: [Q] Noah Rubin (Wake Forest ’15*) vs. [17] Roger Federer
R2: Steve Johnson (USC ’12) vs. [4] Stan Wawrinka
 
 
Australian Open Women’s Singles
R1: Nicole Gibbs (Stanford ’13*) vs. [25] Timea Babos
R1: Irina Falconi (Georgia Tech ’10*) vs. Xinyun Han 
R1: [Q} Jennifer Brady (UCLA ’15*) vs. Johanna Larsson  
 
* didn’t stay at school for all four years