SAVANNAH, April 30, 2019 (Press Release)

The 2019 St. Joseph’s/Candler (SJ/C) Savannah Challenger is officially underway with first round action underway at The Landings Club.

In Monday’s featured evening match, 18-year-old Sebastian Korda took to stadium court against Jared Hiltzik with hopes of picking up his fifth win on the USTA Pro Circuit in the past two weeks. The American wild card took the early break and was able to hold serve throughout the opening set to take a 6-4 lead. In the second set, he took control of the match and shut down Hiltzik after one hour of play with a final score of 6-4, 6-0. He will now take on No. 9 seed Mikael Torpegaard on Tuesday.

Korda is fresh off a quarter-final showing at the Sarasota Open two weeks ago, and reached the second round of the Tallahassee Tennis Challenger just last week. Korda is the son of 1998 Australian Open champion and former world No. 2 Petr Korda. In 2018, the young-gun followed in his fathers footsteps and picked up the junior Australian Open singles title and is now trying to make the transition to the professional level.

The St. Joseph’s/Candler Savannah Challenger hosts Kid’s Day (photo: Jacob Stuckey/SJC Savannah Challenger)

Americans Alexander Ritschard, Ulises Blanch and Collin Altamirano also scored first round wins on Monday to advance to round two. Off the court, over 90 kids attended Kid’s Day at the SJ/C Savannah Challenger. They participated in games, face painting, and were introduced to the USTA’s Net Generation initiative. Tennys Sandgren, Noah Rubin, Chris Eubanks, and other players stopped by to sign autographs, take photos, and inspire the next generation of tennis greats.

Play gets underway on Tuesday at 10:00 a.m. with American wild card Cannon Kingsley taking on Johannes Haerteis. In the featured evening match at 5:30 p.m., 2017 champion Tennys Sandgren kicks off his 2019 campaign against Alexander Ritschard. Sandgren is still in the hunt for the USTA’s Roland Garros Wild Card Challenge and looking to pick up valuable points in Savannah.

The SJ/C Savannah Challenger is an ATP Challenger 80 event hosted at the The Landings Club that will be celebrating 11 years on the USTA Pro Circuit. Professional athletes from around the world will be competing for prize money, as well as valuable ATP Tour Ranking points.

Monday, April 29 – RESULTS

Singles – First round

Alexander Ritschard (USA) d. Brydan Klein (GBR) 6-1, 3-1, ret.

Arthur Rinderknech (FRA) d. Ryan Shane (USA) 6-1, 6-4

Alexandre Muller (FRA) d. Benjamin Hassan (GER) 1-6, 7-5, 6-7(6)

Ulises Blanch (USA) d. Dayne Kelly (AUS) 4-1, ret.

Collin Altamirano (USA) d. Alen Avidzba (RUS) 6-0, 7-6(1)

Aleksandar Vukic (AUS) d. Stefan Kozlov (USA) 6-2, 7-6(11)

Alejandro Gonzalez (COL) d. Jordi Arconada (USA) 6-4, 6-2

Sandro Ehrat (SUI) d. Martin Cuevas (URU) 6-0, 6-0

Sumit Nagal (IND) d. Juan Pablo Varillas (PER) 6-7(3), 6-2, 7-5

Sebastian Korda (USA) d. Jared Hiltzik (USA) 6-4, 6-0

Marcelo Tomas Barrios Vera (CHI) d. Thiago Seyboth Wild (BRA) 6-4, 6-0

Denis Yevseyev (KZA) d. Camilo Ugo Carabelli (ARG) 6-4, 2-6, 6-1

Qualifying Singles – First round

Evan Zhu (USA) d. Ruan Roelofse (RSA) 6-7(7), 6-3, 6-0

(2) Ricardo Rodriguez – Pace (VEN) d. Nathaniel Lammons (USA) 6-1, 6-4