Select Page
Tagged with: , , , , , , , , ,

Ohio State sophomore Francesca Di Lorenzo just started her second year of collegiate tennis but she’s already claimed two Grand Slams after winning the Riviera/ITA All-American Championships. Di Lorenzo was playing her fifth match of the week while her opponent, UCLA freshman Ena Shibahara, was taking the court the 11th time since beginning the pre-qualifying rounds nine days earlier.

Shibahara started the match off with a hold and break but Di Lorenzo broke back and held to even it at 2-2. It stayed on serve until Di Lorenzo broke to go up 5-4 and then she served it out from 40/30 to take the opening set 6-4. There were four straight holds to start the second set until Di Lorenzo broke from 15/40 to go ahead 3-2. Di Lorenzo fell behind 30/40 on her next service game before coming back to hold on the no-ad point to extend her lead to 4-2. After a love hold by Shibahara, Di Lorenzo faced a big point at 30-all on her 4-3 service game.  Di Lorenzo hit a service winner to go up 40/30 and then she hit another service winner to hold for 5-3. Shibahara was now serving to stay in the match but she quickly went down 15/40. Di Lorenzo didn’t waste any time and closed it out on the next point after using her wheels to track down a Shibahara drop shot.

Di Lorenzo has now won 2 of the last 4 majors with this All-American title joining her National Indoor Intercollegiate title from last November.

North Carolina senior Hayley Carter and sophomore Jessie Aney won a back and forth affair over Pepperdine’s Luisa Stefani and Jean Runglerdkriangkrai to win the doubles title. The North Carolina duo won the opening set 6-2 but Pepperdine took the second set by the same score. Pepperdine was in the lead for most of the third set supertiebreak and led 7-5* at the second changeover. North Carolina won the next two points to even it at 7-7 before Pepperdine retook the lead at 8-7*. North Carolina won both points on Aney’s serve to go back in front 9-8 but Pepperdine evened it at 9-9. Aney gave North Carolina another match point after hitting a backhand winner and then she closed the match out with a volley winner at the net to make it 6-2, 2-6, 1-0 (9).

Raise your hand if you had Wake Forest sophomore Petros Chrysochos and Ohio State junior Hugo Di Feo penciled in to meet in Monday’s All-American men’s final. I know I didn’t but they both earned their spots after impressive semifinal wins on Sunday.

Chrysochos was the only seeded semifinalist remaining but he got off to a slow start after Florida sophomore Alfredo Perez held for 1-0 and then broke at love for 2-0. Chrysochos shook off the cobwebs and rattled off four straight games to take a 4-2 lead before Perez stopped the bleeding and held from 40/30 to make it 4-3. Perez broke from 30/40 to even it at 4-all and then he held at love to go ahead 5-4. Chrysochos held from 40/30 and then he broke at love to take a 6-5 lead. Chrysochos went up 40/15 and with the help of a net cord got a service winner to take the opening set 7-5.

The first three games of the second set went to the deciding no-ad point and Chrysochos managed to take the first two to go ahead 2-0. Perez got on the board with a service winner on his 0-2 service game but it was all Chrysochos from that point forward as he won 16 of the next 19 points to close out Perez 7-5, 6-1 in 1 hour and 15 minutes.

 
 
A year ago Hugo Di Feo made his collegiate debut at this event in Tulsa and won six matches before falling in the quarterfinals to eventual runner-up Dominik Koepfer. Di Feo’s opponent, Texas freshman Christian Sigsgaard, was playing his 12th match of the tournament after starting in the pre-qualifying rounds a little over a week ago.

Sigsgaard held serve to start the match but Di Feo held, broke, and held to go up 3-1. Sigsgaard held for 2-3 and then broke from 30/40 to even it at 3-3 after hitting a nice one-hand backhand winner past a drawn in Di Feo. Neither player would face a break point in the next six service games with the set ultimately concluding in a tiebreak.  Di Feo dominated early in the tiebreak and led 5-1 at the changeover but Sigsgaard won three of the next four points to pull within 6-4. Di Feo closed out the tiebreak on the next point with an overhead and strolled over to his chair with a one set lead.

Sigsgaard came out for the second set looking like a guy that had played 12 matches in 9 days. There wasn’t a whole lot of bounce in his step and he managed to win only one point in his three service games. The match ended with back-to-back double faults by Sigsgaard and Di Feo took the set 6-0 in just 18 minutes.

The men’s final is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. central on Monday.

The doubles final will be contested at 10 a.m. central on Monday between the No. 2 seeds Cal’s Filip Bergevi and Florian Lakat and the qualifiers from North Florida Jack Findel-Hawkins and Lasse Muscheites.

Cal’s Bergevi and Lakat won a tight three set match over Wake Forest’s Skander Mansouri and Christian Seraphim. Cal broke Wake’s 3-3 service game then broke again on the no-ad point to take the opening set 6-3. Wake broke and held to go up 2-0 in the second but Cal won the next three to go ahead 3-2. It was all holds until the tiebreak which Wake won 7-4 to force a third set super tiebreak. Cal took the early advantage in the super tiebreak when it won both points on Mansouri’s serve to go ahead 4-1. Cal extended it’s lead to 8-3 but Wake won five of the next six points to pull within *9-8. Cal managed to close it out on the next point when a Mansouri backhand sailed wide to make it at 6-3, 6-7(4), 1-0(8) final.

North Florida’s Findel-Hawkins and Muscheites weren’t broken all match in their straight set win over Purdue’s Ricky Medinilla and Gergely Madarasz. North Florida broke on the no-ad point to take a 4-2 first set lead and they’d break again on the no-ad point to take the set 6-2. The lone break in the second set came in what turned out to be the final game of the match. North Florida broke on the no-ad point to close out the 6-2, 6-4 win.


Men’s Semifinals

[6] Petros Chrysochos (Wake Forest 14.59) def. Alfredo Perez (Florida 14.43) 7-5, 6-1
Hugo Di Feo (Ohio State 13.95) def. [PQ] Christian Sigsgaard (Texas 14.13) 7-6(4), 6-0
Consolation Semifinals
[1] Ronnie Schneider (UNC) def. [4] Andre Goransson (Cal) 6-3, 6-4
Brandon Holt (USC) def. Nuno Borges (Mississippi State) 6-3, 6-4

 

Doubles Semifinals
[Q] Jack Findel-Hawkins/Lasse Muscheites (North Florida) def. [Q] Gergely Madarasz/Ricky Medinilla (Purdue) 6-2, 6-4
[2] Filip Bergevi/Florian Lakat (California) def. [3] Skander Mansouri/Christian Seraphim (Wake Forest) 6-3, 6-7(4), 1-0(8)

Consolation Doubles Semifinals
[1] Cash/Kadhe (Oklahoma State) def. [3] Corwin/Spec (Minnesota) 7-5, 7-5
[2] Bennett/Warren (Rice) def. Fawcett/Wilczynski (Stanford) 6-7, 6-4, 1-0 (7)

Consolation Finals
[2] Tommy Bennett/David Warren (Rice) def. [1] Julian Cash/Arjun Kadhe (Oklahoma State) 6-4, 6-2

Women’s Championship

[3] Francesca Di Lorenzo (Ohio St 12.50) def. [PQ] Ena Shibahara (UCLA 12.09) 6-4, 6-3

Consolation Championship
[2] Sinead Lohan (Miami FL) def. [1] Luisa Stefani (Pepperdine) 6-4, 7-5

Doubles Championship 

Hayley Carter/Jessie Aney (North Carolina) def. [5] Luisa Stefani/Jean Runglerdkriangkrai (Pepperdine) 6-2, 2-6, 1-0 (9)

Consolation Championship
[1] Mami Adachi/Aldila Sutjiadi (Kentucky) def. Katarina Adamovic/Vladica Babic (Oklahoma State) 8-3

Men’s Host Site
Women’s Host Site