by Bobby Knight | Oct 1, 2017 | Blog
The opening day of the pre-qualifying draw in Pacific Palisades saw 9 of the 16 women’s seeds fall in the opening rounds which included all but 1 of the top 8 seeds. Virginia Tech’s Elena Cerezo-Codina knocked out the top seed Oklahoma State’s Sofia Blanco 7-6, 6-4 while Texas Tech’s Sabrina Federici (Texas Tech) ousted the second seed UNLV’s Aiwen Zhu 6-4, 6-2. The final round of the pre-qualifying draw will be played on Sunday and out of the seven remaining seeded players all but one (Miki Kobayashi) are freshmen. The 256-player men’s pre-qualifying draw saw 12 of 21 seeded players make it through the first...
by Bobby Knight | Sep 29, 2017 | Blog
A busy week of tennis will get underway tomorrow morning in Tulsa and Pacific Palisades as the pre-qualifying rounds get started at the men’s and women’s All-American Championships. The men’s pre-qualifying draw is a massive 256-player draw, although 69 get a first-round bye, while the women’s pre-qualifying draw is a 64-player draw with no byes. There will 16 men and 8 women that will advance to the qualifying rounds with the men’s qualifying draw a 128-player draw while the women’s will be a 64-player draw. The pre-qualifying draws with match times are available on the ITA’s event page with the men here and the women...
by Bobby Knight | Sep 26, 2017 | Blog
While John Isner was keeping Team World alive in the Laver Cup there were several other players with college ties that were leaving their mark on pro events across the globe. Ryan Shane, who won the 2015 NCAA singles championship during his junior season at Virginia, swept both the singles and doubles titles at the $15K Laguna Niguel (CA) USA 31 Futures. Shane teamed up with former ACC rival Ronnie Schneider to win the doubles title with a 7-5, 6-2 win over TCU senior Trevor Johnson and BYU graduate Patrick Kawka. Two days later Shane won his third career singles title with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Denver graduate Henry Craig. Shane only dropped one set on the...
by Bobby Knight | Sep 25, 2017 | Blog
UCLA sophomore Ena Shibahara was attempting to win a second consecutive Oracle ITA Masters but despite serving for the match she’d come up short with North Carolina freshman Alle Sanford winning a title in her second collegiate event. Shibahara served for the first set up 5-3 (40/0) but Sanford managed to come back and break on the no-ad point and then hold for 5-5. Shibahara held on the no-ad point for 6-5, after leading 40/15, and then she broke from 15/40 to finally close out the set 7-5. Sanford broke Shibahara on the no-ad point to start the second set, after Shibahara was up 40/30, and then after three consecutive holds Sanford broke...
by Bobby Knight | Sep 24, 2017 | Blog
Columbia junior Victor Pham moved into the finals of the Oracle ITA Masters after ousting the top seed Wake Forest junior Petros Chrysochos in three sets. Chrysochos took the opening set 6-2 and also went up a break early in the second but Pham broke back for 2-2 and then held on a no-ad point for 3-2. Pham would break for 5-3 and then have three set points while serving up 40/0 but he double faulted three times and added another unforced error to give the break back. After Chrysochos held for 5-5, Pham held on a no-ad point for 6-5. Chrysochos held to force a tiebreak but Pham jumped out to a 4-1* lead and would go on to take it 7-5.The third set was all Pham...
by Bobby Knight | Sep 23, 2017 | Blog
The action heated up on the second day of the Oracle ITA Masters with three of the top four men’s seeds moving into the semifinals while the women’s draw saw some surprises. The men’s top seed Wake Forest’s Petros Chrysochos was pushed to three sets by Old Dominion’s Adam Moundir and then a few hours later he defeated Cal’s Billy Griffith in straight sets. Chrysochos will meet the No. 14 seed Columbia’s Victor Pham in the semifinals after the California native defeated the No. 5 seed Elon’s Felipe Sarrasague in straight sets and then followed that up with a straight set win over the No. 4 seed Arizona’s...
by Bobby Knight | Sep 22, 2017 | Blog
The opening day of the Oracle ITA Masters is in the books with almost all the favorites cruising into the second round. 15 of the top 16 seeds advanced on both the men’s and women’s side with both of the No. 16 seeds falling to the No. 17 seed. The player with the higher UTR won 31 of 32 matches with East Carolina’s Celia Ruiz the only “underdog” to come out on top. The women’s top seed UCLA’s Ena Shibahara won her match 6-1, 6-1 over Quinnipiac’s Jennifer Lu while the men’s top seed Wake Forest’s Petros Chrysochos faced more resistance in his 6-2, 7-5 win over Bryant’s Matt Kuhar.To see all the...
by Bobby Knight | Sep 21, 2017 | Blog
The first major tournament of the fall gets underway on Thursday morning in Malibu as 32 guys and 32 girls descend upon the Malibu Racquet Club and Pepperdine University for the 2017 Oracle/ITA Masters. There will be representatives from 24 conferences on the men’s side and 25 on the women’s side with the other remaining spots filled by wild cards and at-large selections. The top returning player from each conference was offered a spot in the field though several declined due to a number of factors such as expense and the ability to compete with a talented field.Universal Tennis Ratings were used to make at-large selections as well as seeding. Wake...
by Bobby Knight | Sep 20, 2017 | Blog
The coaching carousel is almost done spinning for the upcoming season with two more openings filled in the last week though one of the hires created another opening. Jayson Wiseman, who was the women’s head coach at Evansville for the past two seasons, was announced as the new women’s head coach at Eastern Michigan. Wiseman had a tough first season at Evansville going 8-20 but in his second season the team more than doubled its win total and went 17-14. Wiseman replaces Ryan Ray whose contract was not renewed after going 97-150 (.393) over the past 11 seasons. Below is a quote by Jayson Wiseman from EMU’s release: “I am...
by Bobby Knight | Sep 19, 2017 | Blog
While several former collegians were playing Davis Cup last week there were others that were out on the pro circuit taking care of business. Former Georgia Tech Yellow Jacket, Kevin King, won a pro singles title for the second consecutive week after defeating former TCU star Cameron Norrie 6-4, 6-1 in the finals of the $50K Atlantic Tire Championships in Cary, North Carolina. King, who served as a volunteer assistant at Georgia Tech last season while rehabbing an injury to both of his hips, won the week prior at a Futures event in Toronto and with the points from both of those events added in he has now risen to a new career-high ranking of 253. What a...
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