by Bobby Knight | Sep 18, 2017 | Blog
The second annual Hall of Fame ITA Grass Court Invitational in Newport, Rhode Island, wrapped up on Sunday with TCU freshman Alastair Gray and Florida senior Anna Danilina finishing as the big winners. Gray, who was making his collegiate debut this weekend, earned a main draw wild card into next July’s ATP 250 Dell Technologies Hall of Fame Open after defeating teammate Alex Rybakov 6-3, 6-3. Gray finished the weekend with a perfect 5-0 record (3-0 singles/2-0 doubles) and only dropped one set in his three singles matches. Danilina earned a main draw wild card into a $25K USTA Pro Circuit event after edging North Carolina junior Jessie...
by Bobby Knight | Sep 17, 2017 | Blog
TCU teammates Alex Rybakov and Alastair Gray remained undefeated on the grass at Newport and will face each other on Sunday with a nice prize awaiting the winner. The TCU junior and freshman won the Woodbridge/Woodforde doubles flight at the Hall of Fame ITA Grass Court Invitational by defeating last season’s NCAA runner-ups Georgia’s Jan Zielinski and Robert Loeb 8-7. In the Andy Roddick singles flight, Rybakov won his semifinal match over Columbia’s Jackie Tang 6-4, 7-5 while Gray edged Georgia’s Jan Zielinski 6-7, 6-1, 10-3. The winner of Sunday’s match will earn a main draw wild card into next July’s ATP...
by Bobby Knight | Sep 16, 2017 | Blog
The opening day of the Audi Napa Valley Classic was a good one for USC and Cal with their guys going a combined 6-2 in singles. Billy Griffith, JT Nishimura, and Bjorn Hoffmann were the three Bears to pick up wins while USC’s wins came from Jake DeVine, Thibault Forget, and Mateusz Smolicki. Oklahoma’s Aleksandre Bakshi, who transferred in from Texas A&M, spoiled the collegiate debut of Cal’s Jack Molloy with a straight set win while fellow Sooner Jochen Bertsch did the same to Texas A&M’s Juan Carlos Aguilar. The USTA’s High Performance Junior Team went 2-6 on the day with Axel Nefve and Jaycer Lyeons picking up wins...
by Bobby Knight | Sep 15, 2017 | Blog
Last week was the official kickoff of the fall tournament season but things really ramp up this weekend with over 20 events taking place across the country. The ones that I’ll be following the closest are the Duke James Bonk Invite in Cary, the Hall of Fame Grass Court Invitational in Newport, and the Audi Napa Valley Classic. The Duke James Bonk Invite in Cary, North Carolina, has three flights of men’s singles and three flights of men’s doubles with Duke’s Spencer Furman, UNC’s Simon Soendergaard, Duke’s Nick Stachowiak, and Wake Forest’s Alan Gadjiev the top four seeds in the highest singles flight. Teams...
by Bobby Knight | Sep 14, 2017 | Blog
Near the end of last week the ITA released the selections for the upcoming All-American Championships. The women’s event, which takes place in Pacific Palisades, California, from September 30th to October 8th, uses the ITA preseason national singles and doubles rankings to determine at-large selections while the final regional rankings from last season determine the regional representatives. Returning ITA All-Americans and the ITA National Summer Champion are granted automatic entry into the main draw. The detailed selection criteria is available here and the list of all those selected for the 32-player main draw, 64-player qualifying draw, and 64-player...
by Bobby Knight | Sep 12, 2017 | Blog
The Oracle ITA preseason singles and doubles rankings were released today along with the top 10 freshmen newcomers. The singles and doubles rankings are last season’s final rankings with all the graduating seniors removed along with those that turned pro or are taking the fall off to play pro events. There are no freshmen included in these initial singles rankings. Ohio State senior Mikael Torpegaard and UCLA sophomore Ena Shibahara were No. 1 in the men’s and women’s singles rankings. Wake Forest seniors Skander Mansouri and Christian Seraphim were the top ranked men’s doubles team while Michigan junior Kate Fahey and senior Alex...
by Bobby Knight | Sep 11, 2017 | Blog
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...
by Bobby Knight | Sep 9, 2017 | Blog
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...
by Bobby Knight | Sep 8, 2017 | Blog
Labor Day has come and gone which means it’s time for fall college tennis tournament action. Between now and mid-November every weekend will be filled with multiple events taking place at locations across the country.The biggest event this weekend takes place in Athens with the University of Georgia hosting the Southern Intercollegiate Championships. The SICs always have a strong field and this year is no different with Georgia hosting competitors from Arkansas, Ole Miss, Virginia Tech, Florida Atlantic, East Tennessee State, Georgia State, Georgia Gwinnett, and others. There are three flights of singles and two flights of doubles with draws and updated...
by Bobby Knight | Sep 8, 2017 | Blog
Former UCLA Bruin Jean-Julien Rojer (’00-’02) advanced to his first US Open doubles final after he and his doubles partner Horia Tecau came back from a set down to oust the top seeds John Peers (Baylor ’11) and Henri Kontinen. Peers and Kontinen won the opening set 6-1 in just 22 minutes and then the second set would see 12 straight holds to set up a tiebreak. Peers and Kontinen won the first three points of the tiebreak and ultimately led 5-3 but Rojer and Tecau won the next four points to take it 7-5.In the third set, Rojer and Tecau led 3-1* but Peers and Kontinen won the next three to go in front 4-3. Rojer and Tecau retook the lead at...
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