Chuck Merzbacher Named Men’s Tennis Head Coach at UTC - https://t.co/bDFdEBFXv0 #GoMocs pic.twitter.com/x8fhAxvD3T
— GoMocs.com (@GoMocs) July 6, 2017
Former Illini Kevin Anderson was the last remaining player with college ties in the singles draw but despite hammering 31 aces he fell in five sets to American Sam Querrey. Anderson fought off four matches points in the fourth set tiebreak to force a fifth set but Querrey broke for 4-2 in the final set and then held at love twice to win it 5-7, 7-6, 6-3, 6-7, 6-3.
The Australian Open doubles champs, John Peers (Baylor) and Henri Kontinen, will meet the French Open doubles champs, Michael Venus (LSU) and Ryan Harrison, in the quarterfinals after each team won on Monday. Peers and Kontinen won in four sets while Venus and Harrison pulled out a five set win over the No. 6 seeds Ivan Dodig and Marcel Granollers.
The Skupski Brothers (LSU) were ahead of their match two sets to one when play was halted due to darkness so they'll have to finish on Tuesday.
Wimbledon Championships
Men's Singles -
Fourth Round
#28 Sam Querrey def. #42 Kevin Anderson (Illinois '07*) 5-7, 7-6(5), 6-3, 6-7(11), 6-3
Men's Doubles -
Third Round
[1] John Peers (Baylor '11)/Henri Kontinen def. Nys/Sancic 6-3, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4
[10] Michael Venus (LSU '09)/Ryan Harrison def. [6] Dodig/Granollers 2-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-7(7), 6-3
Ken Skupski (LSU '07)/Neal Skupski (LSU '12) vs. Daniell/Demoliner 7-6(3), 5-7, 7-6(7), to be finished..
Podlipnik-Castillo/Vasilevski def. [7] Rajeev Ram (Illinois '03*)/Raven Klaasen 6-4, 7-6(5), 6-3
Mektic/Skugor def. Robert Lindstedt (Pepperdine '98)/Sam Groth 6-7(7), 7-6(4), 7-5, 7-5
Marcin Matkowski (UCLA '03)/Max Mirnyi def. Nicholas Monroe (North Carolina '04)/Artem Sitak 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4
Quarterfinals
[1] John Peers (Baylor '11)/Henri Kontinen vs. [10] Michael Venus (LSU '09)/Ryan Harrison
Marcin Matkowski (UCLA '03)/Max Mirnyi vs. [16] Oliver Marach/Mate Pavic
Ronnie Schneider defeats Tai Kwiatkowski 7-6, 2-6, 6-4 to qualify for the MD at the $75K Winnipeg Challenger pic.twitter.com/GaLn4BnPqY
— UNC Men's Tennis (@carolinatennis) July 10, 2017
Recent North Carolina graduate Ronnie Schneider qualified for the main draw at the $75K Winnipeg National Bank Challenger with a close three set win over longtime rival Thai-Son Kwiatkowski. Schneider took the opening set in a tiebreak but Kwiatkowski forced a third set after taking the second 6-2. Schneider broke Kwiatkowski from 15/40 to start the third set and he'd make the break lead hold up and would win 7-6, 2-6, 6-4. Schneider will face the No. 3 seed Tatsuma Ito in the first round.
TCU rising junior Alex Rybakov also qualified in Winnipeg with a straight set win over Ohio State rising senior Mikael Torpegaard. Rybakov opened up a 4-1 lead in the first set but Torpegaard took the next three to even it at 4-4. Rybakov held from 40/15 and then broke from 30/40 to claim the opening set 6-4. In the second set Torpegaard went in front 3-1 but Rybakov won the final five games to close it out 6-4, 6-3. Rybakov will face 16 year-old Canadian wild card Nicaise Muamba in the first round.
Also participating in the main draw are Hugo Di Feo (Ohio State), Ray Sarmiento (USC), Jack Mingjie Lin (Columbia), Sam Monette (Indiana), Blaz Rola (Ohio State), Finn Tearney (Pepperdine), Marcos Giron (UCLA), Sekou Bangoura (Florida), Brayden Schnur (North Carolina), and Alex Sarkissian (Pepperdine).
.@AronHiltzik and @dnevolo1 join @JaredHiltzik in the @NielsenPro singles main draw in Winnetka #Illini pic.twitter.com/HdFmQknEZe
— Illini M Tennis (@IlliniMTennis) July 10, 2017
All four qualifiers at the $75K Nielsen Pro Tennis Challenger in Winnetka, Illinois, have college ties and in fact three of them are still in college. In the most intriguing matchup of the day Martin Redlicki (UCLA) defeated his older brother Mike Redlicki (Arkansas) 7-6, 6-3. Martin will now face Stanford rising senior Tom Fawcett in the first round.
USC rising junior Logan Smith qualified with a 1-6, 7-6(2), 6-4 win over Minnesota rising senior Felix Corwin and now Smith will meet fellow qualifier Aron Hiltzik after the Illini rising senior defeated Rob Galloway (Wofford) 6-3, 6-1. The final qualifier was Illinois graduate Dennis Nevolo after he got past recent Valparaiso graduate Jeffrey Schorsch 6-0, 7-5.
Tennys Sandgren (Tennessee), Kevin King (Georgia Tech), and Dominik Koepfer (Tulane) won first round matches on Monday while Chris Eubanks (Georgia Tech), Dennis Novikov (UCLA), Bradley Klahn (Stanford), JC Aragone (Virginia), and James McGee (NC State) will be in action on Tuesday.
