Big Day In New York – Kevin Anderson Advances To US Open Singles Final & Jean-Julien Rojer Wins Doubles Championship

Tagged with: American Collegiate Invitational, Axel Geller, Elysia Bolton, Henry Patten, JeanJulien Rojer, Juan Matias Gonzalez, Kevin Anderson, Oliver Crawford, Southern Intercollegiates, US Open (2017), Zvonimir Babic

If you are a fan of college tennis then Friday had to be a great day for you. The day started off with former UCLA All-American Jean-Julien Rojer and his doubles partner Horia Tecau winning the US Open Doubles Championship then later in the day former Illinois All-American Kevin Anderson became the first player with college ties to advance to a Grand Slam singles final since Todd Martin in 1999. In addition to those two great matches there were several other players with college ties playing in the US Open Juniors and American Collegiate Invitational which were also taking place at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. Then to top if off today was opening day of the fall college tournament season with multiple schools hosting events. 

Kevin Anderson may have entered the US Open as the No. 28 seed but as recently as 22 months ago he was in the top 10 before injuries set him back. Anderson’s big weapons these past two weeks had been his big serve and big ground game and on Friday against Spain’s Pablo Carreno Busta (ATP 19) it’d be no different. 

Anderson had only been broken three times in his previous five matches but Carreno Busta would break him on his fourth service game of the first set to go in front 4-3. Careno Busta would hold serve two more times to claim the opening set 6-4 in 33 minutes. 

Anderson fought back in the second set and broke Carreno Busta for 3-1 but the Spaniard broke back and held for 3-3. The set would stay on serve until Anderson broke Carreno Busta from 30/40 with a backhand winner to take the set 7-5. 

 

 

Anderson started off the third set with a pair of easy holds and then he’d break Carreno Busta from 15/40, via a double fault, to go up 3-1. Anderson held serve three more times with no game closer than 40/30 to take the set 6-3. 

 

 

In the fourth set there would be only one break of serve and it came when Anderson broke Carreno Busta from 15/40 to go in front 3-2. Anderson would only drop three points on serve in his final three service games and would close it out 4-6, 7-5, 6-3, 6-4 in 2 hours and 55 minutes. 

 

 

Anderson finished the match with 22 aces, he won 83% of the points on his first serve, 66% of the points on his second serve, hit 58 winners to 43 unforced errors, and converted 4 of 14 break points. Anderson’s opponent in Sunday’s final will be the top seed Rafael Nadal who owns a 4-0 head-to-head edge. 

 

 

Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau won their second career Grand Slam doubles championship with a straight set win over Feliciano and Marc Lopez. Rojer and Tecau went down a break at 4-3 in the first set but then they proceeded to rattle off seven of the next eight games to take a 6-4, 4-1* lead. It’d be all holds the rest of the way with Rojer holding from 40/30 for 5-2 and two games later Tecau would serve it out from 40/30 to complete the 6-4, 6-3 win. 

 

  

In US Open Juniors action incoming Stanford freshman Axel Geller moved on to the semifinals while Florida freshman Oliver Crawford and 2018 UCLA commit Elysia Bolton came up short. 

Geller defeated Japan’s Naomi Tajima 6-3, 6-7(8), 6-4 and will now face Russia’s Timofey Skatov. Crawford got off to a good start against China’s Yibing Wu but Wu bounced back to win 4-6, 6-3, 6-3. Bolton fell in straight sets to Colombia’s Emiliana Arango 7-6(1), 6-2

 

{loadposition ads}

 

Stanford senior Tom Fawcett will meet former Arkansas Razorback Mike Redlicki in men’s final of the American Collegiate Invitational while on the women’s side it’ll be Ohio State junior Francesca Di Lorenzo and Florida’s Ingrid Neel.

Fawcett only needed 49 minutes to defeat Florida junior Alfredo Perez 6-1, 6-2 while Redlicki came back from a set down to defeat USC sophomore Brandon Holt 4-6, 6-0, 6-3. 

Di Lorenzo defeated UCLA sophomore Ena Shibahara 6-4, 6-1 while Neel defeated former Vanderbilt Commodore Sydney Campbell 6-4, 1-6, 6-2. 

 

 

Most of the top seeds had a successful debut at the Southern Intercollegiates in Athens however there were a few upsets. Ole Miss senior Zvonimir Babic, who played primarily at No. 6 singles last year, defeated Georgia sophomore Nathan Ponwith, who played at No. 1 last season, 6-4, 1-6, 6-3. 

UNC Asheville junior Henry Patten, who went 20-1 last year at No. 1 singles, defeated Georgia Gwinnett senior Kevin Konfederak 6-4, 3-6, 6-1. Konfederak finished last season as the top ranked player in NAIA after going 12-1 at No. 1 singles.

Arkansas junior Juan Matias Gonzalez won his first match as a Razorback after defeating Ole Miss junior Fabian Fallert 6-3, 2-6, 6-4. Gonzalez played as high as No. 2 at Tulsa two years ago before sitting out last season while Fallert was a stout 19-3 in dual-match play last season with most of his matches coming at No. 4. 

Below are the results from the top singles flight with all draws and results available at this link.

Singles DI Round of 64
Henry Patten (UNC Asheville) def. Sam Philip (Mercer) 6-1, 6-4
Felip Kraljevic (Ole Miss) def. Rodrigo Magalhaes (Radford) 6-3, 6-0
Matias Gonzalez (Arkansas) def. Frederico Herrera Duran (Ga. Gwinnett) 2-6, 6-3, 6-3
Mitch Harper (Va Tech) def. Gabriel Sidney (FAU) 7-6 (5), 6-4
Grey Hamilton (Ole Miss) def. Gilad Berman (Ga. Gwinnett) 7-5, 6-4
Carlo Donato (Va Tech) def. Fermin Calvo (KSU) 2-6, 6-2, 7-6 (17)

Singles DI Round of 32
(Seed 12) Oscar Mesquida (Arkansas) def. Anthony Schohn (FAU) 6-3, 6-3
(Seed 13) Amgus Bradshaw (Stetson) def. Josh Howard-Trip (Arkansas) 6-3, 6-7 (2), 6-3
(Seed 14) Loic Blanco (Stetson) def. Eirik Groner (Lander) 6-4, 6-4
(Seed 15) Ignacio Garcia (FAU) def. Sergi Fontcuberta (ETSU) 7-6, 6-4
(Seed 16) Andrei Andrukhou (Ga. State) def. Remi Chancerel (FAU) 3-6, 6-3, 6-4
(Seed 7) Tim Sandkaulen (Ole Miss) def. Mitch Harper (Va Tech) 6-2, 7-6
(Seed 6) Christopher Kougoucheff (Louisville) def. Grey Hamilton (Ole Miss) 6-3, 2-6, 6-4
(Seed 4) Edu Mena (Tenn Tech) def. Alex Phillips (UGA) 3-6, 6-4, 6-0
Henry Patten (UNC Asheville) def. (Seed 5) Kevin Konfederak (Ga. Gwinnett) 6-4, 3-6, 6-1
Matias Gonzalez (Arkansas) def. (Seed 8) Fabian Fallert (Ole Miss) 6-3, 3-6, 6-2
(Seed 11) Robert Loeb (UGA) def. Quentin Coulaud (Ga. State) 6-2, 6-1
(Seed 9) Walker Duncan (UGA) def. Nico Guillon (Mercer) 6-2, 6-4
(Seed 1) Wayne Montgomery (UGA) def. Carlo Donato (Va Tech) 3-6, 6-2, 6-4
(Seed 13) Jan Zielinski (UGA) def. Robert Herrera (ETSU) 6-1, 6-2
Zvonimir Babic (Ole Miss) def. (Seed 3) Nathan Ponwith (UGA) 6-4, 1-6, 6-3
(Seed 2) Emil Reinberg (UGA) def. Felip Kraljevic (Ole Miss) 6-7, 6-1, 6-0.