by Bobby Knight | Jun 2, 2017 | Blog
Former collegians John Isner (Georgia ’07) and Kevin Anderson (Illinois ’07) joined Steve Johnson (USC ’12) in the third round at the French Open. Isner hammered 21 aces and held his serve all 17 times in a 6-3, 7-6, 7-6 win over No. 34 Paolo Lorenzi. Isner has now made it to the third round at the French four times in the last five years with his best finishes coming in 2016 and 2014 when he made the round of 16. Isner will face #53 Karen Khachanov in the third round after the Russian ousted the No. 13 seed Tomas Berdych in straight sets – Isner and Khachanov have not played before. Anderson advanced to the third round for...
by Bobby Knight | Jun 1, 2017 | Blog
The ITA released its final singles and doubles rankings of the year with both of the NCAA Singles Champions, Thai-Son Kwiatkowski and Brienne Minor, finishing ranked No. 9. TCU’s Cameron Norrie finished at No. 1 in the men’s rankings while Ohio State’s Francesca Di Lorenzo was tops on the women’s side.Oklahoma’s Andrew Harris and Spencer Papa, who won the NCAA Doubles Championship, finished at No. 1 in the doubles rankings while Pepperdine’s Christine Maddox and Mayar Sherif Ahmed finished at No. 1 in the women’s doubles rankings. The NCAA Women’s Doubles Champs, Ohio State’s Francesca Di Lorenzo and Miho...
by Bobby Knight | May 31, 2017 | Blog
The coaching carousel should continue spinning all summer long and today another position was filled when Liberty Athletic Director Ian McCaw named Derek Schwandt as the new men’s head tennis coach. Schwandt served as the assistant coach at Georgia Tech for the last five years and prior to that he spent time at Fresno State and Virginia. The 2005 Richmond graduate replaces Chris Johnson who stepped down on May 5th after 11 seasons. The full release from the school is available here and below are a few quotes: “I would like to thank Liberty University, Ian McCaw and the hiring committee for the incredible opportunity to lead Flames...
by Bobby Knight | May 30, 2017 | Blog
Virginia senior Thai-Son Kwiatkowski capped a tremendous collegiate career by becoming Virginia’s fourth NCAA singles champion after defeating North Carolina freshman William Blumberg in straight sets. Kwiatkowski broke Blumberg in the opening game of the match but Blumberg managed to break back for 1-1. It stayed on serve until Kwiatkowski broke from 30/40 to go up 5-4 and then the Charlotte native served out the set to take it 6-4. In the second set Kwiatkowski broke for 2-1 but Blumberg broke back on the no-ad point to even it at 2-2. The set would end up going to a tiebreak and Kwiatkowski broke a 5-5 tie by winning the last two point to win the...
by Bobby Knight | May 29, 2017 | Blog
Virginia senior Thai-Son Kwiatkowski and North Carolina freshman William Blumberg will meet for the fourth time this season after each advanced to the finals of the NCAA Singles Championship with straight set wins. Kwiatkowski defeated Stanford junior Tom Fawcett 6-3, 6-2 while Blumberg knocked off the SEC Player of the Year in Mississippi State sophomore Nuno Borges 6-2, 7-6(1).Kwiatkowski will attempt to become Virginia’s third NCAA singles champion with Ryan Shane winning in 2015 and Somdev Devvarman winning in 2007 and 2008. North Carolina has never had a male singles champion though Jamie Loeb won the women’s title in 2015.Blumberg won the...
by Bobby Knight | May 28, 2017 | Blog
Virginia senior Thai-Son Kwiatkowski won the only men’s quarterfinal match that went three sets while North Carolina freshman William Blumberg won his 24th match in a row with a straight set win over UNF’s Jack Findel-Hawkins. Full day 4 results are listed below with the seeded players in bold. Quotes from each of the winners along with brackets are available at this link. Blumberg holds at love to d. Findel-Hawkins 6-4, 6-4; Blumberg is UNC’s first NCAA Singles Semifinalist in history #NCAATennis pic.twitter.com/0Skv1BKrm5— UNC Men’s Tennis (@carolinatennis) May 27, 2017 Men’s Quarterfinals#14 [9-16]...
by Bobby Knight | May 27, 2017 | Blog
Virginia senior Thai-Son Kwiatkowski took out the men’s top seed Ohio State’s Mikael Torpegaard in straight sets which set up an All-ACC quarterfinal against Georgia Tech’s Christopher Eubanks. Eubanks won the most lopsided match of the day with a 6-3, 6-0 win over Texas freshman Yuya Ito. North Carolina’s William Blumberg is the only freshman left in the draw after he won his 23rd match in a row with a three sets win over Florida’s Alfredo Perez. Blumberg will face North Florida’s Jack Findel-Hawkins in the quarterfinals after the senior ousted Wake Forest freshman Borna Gojo in three sets.Oklahoma senior Alex Ghilea pulled...
by Bobby Knight | May 26, 2017 | Blog
Most of the heavy hitters are still alive in the men’s draw with 11 of the 12 remaining seeds advancing to the round of 16. Texas freshman Yuya Ito scored the biggest upset of the day by defeating No. 10 Mike Redlicki (Arkansas) 2-6, 6-3, 7-5. North Florida’s Jack Findel-Hawkins is the lowest ranked player remaining after he came back from a set down to defeat South Florida’s Sasha Gozun 0-6, 6-2, 6-4. There are three freshman left with North Carolina’s William Blumberg and Wake Forest’s Borna Gojo joining Yuya Ito. Full day 2 results are listed below with the seeded players in bold. Quotes from a few of the men’s...
by Bobby Knight | May 25, 2017 | Blog
Just one day after winning the program’s third straight NCAA National Championship Athletic Director Craig Littlepage named former UVA associate head coach Andres Pedroso as the Cavaliers’ new men’s head coach and director of tennis. Pedroso, who served under the departing Brian Boland from 2010 to 2014, was a national coach for USTA Player Development prior to coming to Charlottesville and then after leaving in 2014 he began coaching privately in South Florida. Pedroso will also be responsible for hiring a new women’s coach to replace Mark Guilbeau who stepped down on May 5. Below are some quotes from Virginia’s release which is...
by Bobby Knight | May 24, 2017 | Blog
The University of Florida began the year ranked No. 1 and they will finish No. 1 after winning the NCAA National Championship on Tuesday night with a 4-1 win over Stanford. The match was originally scheduled to start at 5 p.m. eastern but due to more rain the starting time was pushed back until 8 p.m. eastern. Fortunately it stopped raining shortly after 4 p.m. so by 8 p.m. the outdoor courts were dry which meant we didn’t have to suffer through another indoor final. Florida and Stanford were meeting in the NCAA Championship Final for the 10th time with Stanford holding a 6-3 edge coming into this match. Florida and Stanford had met during the...
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