by Bobby Knight | Aug 22, 2017 | Blog
It’ll be a busy week for many current and former collegians as they try to qualify for the 2017 US Open. There are 26 players with college ties in the men’s qualifying draw with two first round matches pitting one against another. There are 10 players with college ties in the women’s draw with the only college versus college match coming when Francesca Di Lorenzo faces Nicole Gibbs. To see all the first round matchups scroll down and to see the order of play for Tuesday click here and to track the live scoring click here. The World University Games are underway in Taiwan with plenty of representation from college tennis players...
by Bobby Knight | Aug 20, 2017 | Blog
Wake Forest rising sophomore Borna Gojo is one match away from qualifying for the main draw at the ATP 250 Winston-Salem Open after he picked up his first-ever top 100 win on Saturday. Gojo, who entered the weekend with an ATP ranking of 808, held off Belgium’s Ruben Bemelmans (ATP #100) 7-6(3), 3-6, 7-6(6) in 2 hours and 29 minutes. Gojo fell behind 2-0 in the opening set before winning three straight and he’d eventually take the set in a tiebreak. Bemelmans forced a third set after earning the only break in the second at 5-3 and then he’d go up a break in the third at 2-1. Gojo broke back for 3-3 and a few games later he’d have a pair...
by Bobby Knight | Aug 16, 2017 | Blog
The brief college tennis summer session officially came to a close on Tuesday with singles and doubles champions crowned at the ITA National Summer Championships in Fort Worth, Texas. Notre Dame junior Alex Lebedev won the men’s singles championship after winning a pair of matches on Tuesday. Lebedev edged Penn junior Kyle Mautner 7-6, 5-7, 10-6 in the semifinals then a few hours later in the finals he defeated defeated Omaha sophomore Razvan Grigorescu 6-3, 6-2. Lebedev entered the event as the No. 10 seed and won all his matches in straight sets except for the match with Mautner. Winthrop junior Lauren Proctor won the women’s singles...
by Bobby Knight | Aug 14, 2017 | Blog
Ohio State rising sophomore JJ Wolf was a set away from winning the 2017 USTA Boys 18 National Championship in Kalamazoo but Patrick Kypson fought back to win the fourth and fifth sets to come away with the title and US Open main draw wild card. Kypson had the upper-hand for most of the first set with the 17-year old from Greenville (NC) holding serve rather quickly while Wolf had to work for his holds. Kypson had five set points on Wolf’s serve, three at 4-5 and two at 5-6, but Wolf fought them off and then surprisingly cruised through the tiebreak 7-1. Kypson earned his first break of the match in the second set when he broke Wolf for...
by Bobby Knight | Aug 13, 2017 | Blog
Ohio State rising sophomore JJ Wolf is one win away from earning a main draw wild card into the US Open after he defeated Cornell commit Alafia Ayeni 6-3, 6-1 in the semifinals of the USTA Boys 18 National Championship in Kalamazoo. Wolf’s previous best singles performance at the Zoo was two years ago when he made it to the semifinals of the Boys 16 before falling to Patrick Kypson who then went on to win the title the next day. It just so happens that Wolf’s opponent in Sunday’s final will be Patrick Kypson after the 17 year-old from Greenville, North Carolina, rolled to a 6-0, 6-3 win over Ryan Goetz. Colette Lewis has plenty of quotes from...
by Bobby Knight | Aug 12, 2017 | Blog
Friday was a good day at the Edwardsville (IL) USA F27 Futures for Ole Miss rising senior Gustav Hansson and 2015 Ohio State graduate Hunter Callahan. Both Hansson and Callahan won their quarterfinal round singles matches then later in the day they teamed up to win the doubles title. Callahan advanced to his second career singles semifinal after coming back from a set down to defeat Florida rising junior Alfredo Perez. Callahan won the opening two games of the match but Perez took six of the next seven games to claim the opening set 6-3. In the second set Callahan broke Perez for 3-1 and would go on to take the set 6-1. In the final set Callahan...
by Bobby Knight | Aug 11, 2017 | Blog
Ohio State rising sophomore and No. 5 seed JJ Wolf advanced to the semifinals at the USTA Boys 18 National Championships in Kalamazoo, Michigan, after ousting the top seed Sam Riffice. Wolf, who enrolled at Ohio State last January a month after turning 18, came back after dropping the first set to defeat Riffice (2018 Florida commit) 5-7, 6-4, 6-1. Wolf’s semifinal opponent will be the No. 12 seed Alafia Ayeni after the Cornell commit came back from a set down to defeat the No. 8 seed Danny Thomas (2018 uncommitted) 6-7(6), 6-4, 6-4. Ryan Goetz (2018 uncommitted) entered the week as the No. 29 seed but he’s now won all five matches in straight...
by Bobby Knight | Aug 6, 2017 | Blog
It was another strong week on the pro tour for players with college ties. John Peers (Baylor ’11) and Treat Huey (Virginia ’08) won ATP doubles titles in Washington D.C. and Los Cabos respectively, Abigail Spears (UCLA ’00*) won a doubles title at the Bank of the West in Stanford, and 13 others won at the Futures level. There were three singles titles won by players with college ties while another three finished as runner-up including Kevin Anderson (Illinois ’07*) who lost in the finals of the ATP 500 in Washington D.C.Joao Monteiro (Virginia Tech ’16) won his third singles title of the year, fourth career, with a 6-2, 7-5...
by Bobby Knight | Aug 5, 2017 | Blog
New Mexico State Director of Athletics Mario Moccia named Emily Wang as the Aggies new women’s head coach. Wang, who graduated from Illinois in 2007, had been the head coach at Eastern Illinois for the last two seasons posting a 28-17 (.622) record. Wang replaces Ivan Fernandez who left after seven seasons to take the women’s head coaching job at UTEP. Below are some quotes from NMSU’s release:”Interest in our head women’s tennis position was overwhelming,” Moccia said. “Emily rose to the top during the process and I was glad we were able to recruit her to NM State. With her playing background in the Big 10 at...
by Bobby Knight | Aug 2, 2017 | Blog
The calendar has turned to August which means several schools will be in session shortly so most of the current coaching openings should get filled sooner rather than later. Over the last week there have been three head coaching hires along with several assistant coaching hires. University of North Florida Director of Athletics Lee Moon announced the hiring of Matt Lucas as the Ospreys new men’s head coach. Lucas comes to Jacksonville after serving as the associate head coach at Buffalo last season and will replace Mark Finnegan who departed after four seasons to become the men’s assistant coach at Auburn. Below are some quotes from...
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