CHAMPAIGN, November 17, 2015
After the last rounds of qualifying and day one of the main draw US-$ 50,000 JSM Challenger tournament, all eight seeds remain in the main draw. One doubles team earned a qualifying spot into the doubles main draw, as that event also began today after singles. Both main draw singles and main draw doubles resume play on Tuesday at Atkins Tennis Center.
On the first day of singles main draw, both the first and third seeds – Malek Jaziri and Ryan Harrison – had no trouble with their first round matches winning 4,3 and 3,3 respectively. The remaining four winners of the day in main draw singles also won in straight sets. One of these remaining four, Taylor Fritz, an 18-year-old from California, is the No. 1 ranked junior in the world. Fritz won the 2015 U.S. Open boy’s tournament and is currently ranked 207 by the ATP world rankings. Fritz will resume main draw play Wednesday.
In the two rounds of doubles played today, both matches of the day went to a final set tiebreaker. Unseeded Joshua Milton of Great Britain and partner John-Patrick Smith of Australia upset the fourth seeded pairing Hans Hach Verdugo and Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela of Mexico 10-7 in the final set tiebreaker. In another close match, former Illini duo Tim Kopinski and Dennis Nevolo outlasted former Ohio State duo Chase Buchanan and Blaz Rola. Kopinski and Nevolo also won 10-7 in the final set tiebreaker.
As main draw singles continues to day two, both the finalist – young American player Frances Tiafoe – and the champion – Daniel Evans of Great Britain – of the previous challenger, Knoxville, will compete in their first round matches on Tuesday. Because of Tiafoe’s result in Knoxville, the second tournament in the Australian Open Wild Card Challenge, he is currently sitting at No. 2 in the standings for the WC spot with 55 points. In the No. 1 spot of the standings is Noah Rubin. Rubin lost in the first round on Monday to the first seed Malek Jaziri of Tunisia.
RESULTS – NOVEMBER 16, 2015
Men’s
Singles – First Round
[1] M. Jaziri (TUN) d [WC] N. Rubin (USA) 64 62
[3] R. Harrison (USA) d M. Michalicka (CZE) 63 63
D. Nguyen (USA) d [WC] M. Mmoh (USA) 64 63
T. Fritz (USA) d G. Lapentti (ECU) 63 62
E. Quigley (USA) d T. Paul (USA) 64 63
A. Bossel (SUI) d B. Kavcic (SLO) 62 61
Doubles – First Round
J. Milton (GBR) / J. Smith (AUS) d [4] H. Hach Verdugo (MEX) / M. Reyes-Varela (MEX) 63 36 10-7
[WC] T. Kopinski (USA) / D. Nevolo (USA) d C. Buchanan (USA) / B. Rola (SLO) 76(3) 36 10-7
Qualifying Singles – Third Round
Qualifying – [6] M. McDonald (USA) d [1] J. Milton (GBR) 64 64
Qualifying – [2] C. Buchanan (USA) d J. Ho (USA) 61 46 62
Qualifying – C. Thompson (USA) d [8] D. Rice (GBR) 63 57 75
Qualifying – R. Sarmiento (USA) d T. Kopinski (USA) 76(2) 61
