Anderson Falls in US Open Final; Fawcett & Di Lorenzo Win ACI; Sandkaulen & Patten Big Winners at Southern Intercollegiates

Tagged with: Abraham Asaba, Francesca Di Lorenzo, Henry Patten, Kevin Anderson, Nicolas Rouanet, Tim Sandkaulen, Tom Fawcett, US Open (2017)

Kevin Anderson had a tremendous two weeks at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center but unfortunately he came up short in the singles final falling to world No. 1 Rafael Nadal in three sets. The opening set stayed on serve through the first six service games, which included an Anderson hold in a six-deuce game, but Nadal would get the first break in a one-deuce game to go in front 4-3. After Nadal held from 40/15, he would break Anderson again to take the opening set 6-3 in 58 minutes. 

The second set started off with five straight holds until Nadal broke Anderson from 30/40 to take a 4-2 lead. Nadal would hold serve two more times to claim the set 6-3 in 39 minutes.

Nadal started off the third set with a break and hold to go up 2-0 and it’d be all holds the rest of the way with Nadal serving out the match in a one-deuce game to win 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 in 2 hours and 27 minutes. Anderson hit 10 aces in the match and won 73% of the points on his first serve but Nadal ripped into his second serve winning 64% of the points. Anderson won just 15 of 72 points (21%) on Nadal’s serve while not having any break opportunities. Despite the loss Anderson picked up 1200 ATP points and a tidy sum of $1.83 million. 

 

Stanford senior Tom Fawcett and Ohio State junior Francesca Di Lorenzo won singles titles at the American Collegiate Invitational. Fawcett defeated UCLA senior Martin Redlicki in a long three setter in a match that was played on the Grandstand at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. Fawcett jumped out to a 3-1 lead in the opening set and then added a second break to go up 5-2. Redlicki then ran off four straight games to go up 6-5 but Fawcett came back with a hold and then pulled out the tiebreak 7-4.

In the second set, Redlicki broke and held for 4-2 but Fawcett held, broke, and held to go back in front 5-4. Once again they’d go to a tiebreak but this time it’d be Redlicki pulling out by an 8-6 score. 

The third set was pretty similar to the first set with Fawcett opening up a double break lead but this time he managed to serve it out, albeit on his second chance, to win 7-6, 6-7, 6-4.

 

 

Di Lorenzo claimed the women’s title with an equally as long three-set win over Ingrid Neel. Neel, who announced that she will not be returning to Florida and instead will begin her pro career, took the opening set 6-4. Di Lorenzo bounced back in the second set taking it 6-4 but Neel jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the final set. Di Lorenzo rallied to win six of the next seven games to win 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 in 2 hours and 10 minutes. Di Lorenzo is going to take the fall off to play pro events and then will make a decision on whether to return to Ohio State for the spring. 

Both Fawcett and Di Lorenzo are guaranteed a wild card into next year’s US Open qualifying draw plus both will get main draw wild cards into three USTA Pro Circuit events.

 

 

UNC Asheville junior Henry Patten and Ole Miss sophomore Tim Sandkaulen shared the Division I singles title at the Southern Intercollegiate Championships in Athens. Patten won five matches in Athens with wins over Mercer’s Sam Philip (#2), Georgia Gwinnett’s Kevin Konfederak (NAIA #1), Stetson’s Loic Blanco (#1), FAU freshman Ignacio Garcia, and  a 6-7(4), 7-6(2), 6-4 win over Georgia junior Emil Reinberg in the semifinals.

Sandkaulen received a first round bye and went 4-0 with wins over Virginia Tech’s Mitch Harper (#2), Stetson’s Angus Bradshaw (#3), Tennessee Tech’s Eduardo Mena (#1), and a 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 win in the semifinals over Georgia junior Jan Zielinski (#4). 

Louisville senior Nicolas Rouanet won the D2 singles flight with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Stetson freshman Malik Bhatnagar. Rouanet, who played at #3 last season for the Cards, received a first round bye and then won all five of his matches in straight sets with the 6-4, 6-2 scoreline in the final the closest of all his matches. 

 

 

Virginia Tech sophomore Abraham Asaba won the D3 singles flight with a 2-6, 6-2, 6-3 win over Georgia State sophomore Bailey Showers. Asaba went 5-0 with his straight set wins in his first three matches and three-set wins in the final two.  

Full results and completed draws from the Southern Intercollegiates are available at this link.