LAS VEGAS, October 23, 2018 (by Steve Pratt)

Former two-time NCAA champion Blaz Rola and Barbados Davis Cup player Darian King pulled off upsets during the first day of main-draw play on Monday at the Las Vegas Tennis Open taking place at the Fertitta Tennis Complex on the campus of UNLV.

Former Ohio State star Rola of Slovenia needed three sets to beat No. 5-seeded American Noah Rubin, 6-3, 1-6, 6-3, while King took down No. 7-seeded Dominik Koepfer of Germany, 6-4, 6-4.

Also opening with a main-draw win on Monday was 22-year-old Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis – who beat Roger Federer at the Miami Open in March. Kokkinakis eliminated wild-card Alex Cozbinov, 7-6 (5), 6-1.

Twenty-year-old American Stefan Kozlov will open defense of his Las Vegas ATP $50,000 Men’s Challenger title he won last year in an 11 a.m. match on Court 1 against Kamil Majchrzak of Poland.

Qualifier Tommy Paul, the 2015 French Open Junior Boys’ champion, will face fellow American Kevin King, a former All-American from Georgia Tech. Former Michigan All-American from Southern California Jason Jung also opens play on Tuesday. He will take on lucky loser Alex Sarkissian, a former NCAA singles runner-up from Pepperdine University.

Jung’s former Wolverines teammate Evan King will play in the second match on Court 1 following Kozlov-Majchrzak as King plays former ATP World Tour ranked-No. 5 Tommy Robredo, who is 36-years-old and from Spain.

Las Vegas resident Evan Song received a wild card into the main draw and will go up against former University of Virginia star Thai-Son Kwiatkowski.

On Semifinal Saturday, Oct. 27, the USTA Foundation will hold a Net Generation Tennis Clinic in partnership with the impact barter startuphave|need (haveneed.org). The Andre Agassi Foundation for Education and area National Junior Tennis and Learning (NJTL) chapters will receive new tennis racquets as part of the clinic.

LAS VEGAS TENNIS OPEN – LAS VEGAS

$50,000, 22-28 OCTOBER 2018

RESULTS – OCTOBER 22, 2018
Men’s
Singles – First Round
[2] A. Menendez-Maceiras (ESP) d [WC] J. Wolf (USA) 63 63
B. Rola (SLO) d [5] N. Rubin (USA) 63 16 63
D. King (BAR) d [7] D. Koepfer (GER) 64 64
T. Kokkinakis (AUS) d [WC] A. Cozbinov (MDA) 76(5) 61

Men’s
Doubles – First Round
[1] M. Arevalo (ESA) / R. Maytin (VEN) d [WC] S. Kozlov (USA) / J. Vance (USA) 64 64
R. Gonzales (PHI) / N. Lammons (USA) d [3] H. Reese (USA) / J. Withrow (USA) 75 75
D. Koepfer (GER) / T. Matsui (JPN) d [WC] C. Lock (ZIM) / B. Saraiva (POR) 61 63

Mens
Qualifying Singles – Third Round
Qualifying – [8] T. Kwiatkowski (USA) d [1] J. Sels (NED) 64 76(6)
Qualifying – [5] M. Bourgue (FRA) d [2] E. King (USA) 76(3) 76(4)
Qualifying – [4] T. Paul (USA) d [6] A. Sarkissian (USA) 63 63
Qualifying – [7] R. Ortega-Olmedo (ESP) d H. Grenier (FRA) 67(7) 63 64

Mens
Qualifying Doubles – Second Round
Qualifying – [1] J. Aragone (USA) / T. Kokkinakis (AUS) d T. Johnson (USA) / P. Kawka (USA) 46 75 10-5