by Bobby Knight | Jul 31, 2017 | Blog
John Isner (Georgia ’07) returned to the state where he had a ton of success in college and proceeded to win his fourth singles title at the BB&T Atlanta Open. Isner, who won the week before in Newport and has now won 12 career singles titles, fired 23 aces and won 85% of the points on his first serve in a 7-6(6), 7-6(7) win over fellow American Ryan Harrison. There were no breaks of serve in the first set, in fact there were no break points either, though Harrison went up a mini-break to start the tiebreak. Isner put it back on serve on the next point and would eventually fight off a set point when serving at 5-6 before taking the tiebreak...
by Bobby Knight | Jul 30, 2017 | Blog
Yannick Hanfmann (USC ’15) started off 2017 by playing a pair of Futures events in his old college stomping grounds of Los Angeles but seven months later he’s two sets away from winning his first ATP singles title. Hanfmann came into the J. Safra Sarasin Swiss Open in Gstaad, Switzerland, with just three career main draw ATP wins but after breezing through two qualifying matches he’s won four straight main draw matches with all four going the full three sets. Hanfmann started off the week with 6-3, 6-7(3), 6-4 win over Facundo Bagnis (ATP 109) and then in the second round he knocked out the defending champ Feliciano Lopez (ATP 27) 7-6(5),...
by Bobby Knight | Jul 28, 2017 | Blog
Chris Eubanks showed on Thursday night that he wasn’t a one-trick pony as the rising senior at Georgia Tech knocked off ATP #59 Jared Donaldson 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 to move into the quarterfinals at the BB&T Atlanta Open. Eubanks went down a break midway through the first set when Donaldson broke from 15/40 to go ahead 3-2 but Eubanks broke back in the next game from 30/40 and then broke again in a two-deuce game to secure the opening set 6-4. There was only one break in the second set and it came when Donaldson broke Eubanks in a four-deuce game, a game that Eubanks had led 40/15, to go up 4-3. In the third and final set Eubanks jumped out to a 3-0 lead by...
by Bobby Knight | Jul 27, 2017 | Blog
William Blumberg continued his strong play at the $75K Levene Gouldin & Thompson Tennis Challenger in Binghamton, New York, as the North Carolina rising sophomore moved into the quarterfinals after defeating Denis Kudla (ATP 172) 6-3, 6-2. Blumberg, who got into the main draw via a wild card, won 81% of the points on his first serve and he broke Kudla six times. Blumberg will have the day off on Thursday and will be back on Friday to take on China’s Ze Zhang (ATP 259). Cameron Norrie, who just recently turned pro after his junior season at TCU, also moved into the quarterfinals after he defeated Daniel Nguyen (USC ’12) 6-3, 6-3....
by Bobby Knight | Jul 26, 2017 | Blog
Georgia Tech rising senior Chris Eubanks picked up his first career main draw win at the ATP-level and moved into the second round of the BB&T Atlanta Open with a straight set win over 19-year-old American Taylor Fritz. Both guys served well with each winning over 70% of the points on their serve but it was Eubanks who earned the lone break of the match and came away with the 7-6(5), 6-4 win. Eubanks was playing in the main draw of his hometown event for the third year in a row but this was the first time he was able to come away with the all-important win. Next up for Eubanks is the eighth seed Jared Donaldson. First Tour Level Match Win: ?...
by Bobby Knight | Jul 24, 2017 | Blog
Baylor rising junior Juan Benitez won his first career pro titles over the weekend after sweeping singles and doubles at the Morocco F1 Futures in Tanger. In the doubles final, Benitez teamed with Raleigh Smith (Northwestern ’14) to defeat Skander Mansouri (Wake Forest Rising Sr) and Nick Chappell (TCU ’15) 6-4, 7-6(3). Benitez and Smith were actually fortunate to make it out of the opening round because they trailed 9-4 in the third set supertiebreak and then after erasing those five match points they fought off one more before winning 13-11. As fate would have it Benitez and Smith would face each other in the singles final with Benitez getting...
by Bobby Knight | Jul 19, 2017 | Blog
Several players with college ties have roared into the quarterfinals at the USA F24 Futures in Champaign, Illinois. Recent Valparaiso graduate Jeffrey Schorsch picked up his first ATP point on Tuesday in a two-minute 1-0 retirement win over former Illinois No. 1 Farris Gosea. Schorsch added two more ATP points on Wednesday after he defeated another former Illinois No. 1 with a 5-7, 7-5, 6-3 win over Dennis Nevolo. Schorsch’s next opponent will be the No. 3 seed Dominik Koepfer after the Tulane graduate defeated UCLA rising senior Martin Redlicki in the first round and American Alexios Halebian in the second round. Harrison Adams started off the week...
by Bobby Knight | Jul 19, 2017 | Blog
If you are looking to help out recent college graduates as they embark on their pro tennis journey then here are some links of players that are looking for assistance. If you know of more let me know and I’ll gladly add them. Nick Bybel (Bucknell)Jeffrey Schorsch/Charlie Emhardt (Valpo)Alex Lawson (Notre Dame)
by Bobby Knight | Jul 17, 2017 | Blog
There were no ITF pro circuit events in the United States this week but players with college ties still had plenty of success across the globe. University of Miami (FL) rising senior Sinead Lohan won her second career singles title after defeating Alicia Barnett (Northwestern ’16) in the final of the ITF $15K in Cantanhede, Portugal. Lohan jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the first set and took it 6-2 but Barnett came back in the second and after going up 3-0 she took the set 6-4. Lohan bounced back in the third set and opened up a 5-0 lead. Barnett broke Lohan from 15/40 to get on the board but Lohan broke back in a one-deuce game to close it out 6-2, 4-6,...
by Bobby Knight | Jul 15, 2017 | Blog
Hayley Carter accomplished just about everything there was to accomplish in her four years at North Carolina but instead of continuing her playing career on the pro tour she has decided to start her coaching career. Oklahoma State women’s head coach Chris Young announced on Thursday that Carter will become the Cowgirls new women’s assistant coach replacing Matt Manasse who left to take the same position at Duke. Below are some quotes from OSU’s release:”I am excited to welcome Hayley to the Cowgirl tennis family,” Young said. “I have known Hayley for a while and I value the characteristics she will bring to our program which...
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