CHAMPAIGN, November 19, 2015
After the third day of the main draw at the US-$ 50,000 JSM Challenger in Champaign, only the first and second seed remain in the singles tournament and six of the eight quarterfinalists are US-Americans. As for doubles, the top three seeded teams remain.
On the third day of main draw singles, US-American qualifier Mackenzie McDonald defeated other US-American player and third seed Ryan Harrison. Harrison retired to McDonald after splitting sets. In other singles action, the first and second seeds Malek Jaziri of Tunisia and US-American player Austin Krajicek both won their matches in straight sets to advance to the quarterfinals. In the last singles match of the day, US-American player Clay Thompson defeated eighth seeded Blaz Rola in straight sets.
In day three of doubles action the top two seeded teams prevailed in straight sets. The third seeded team of Dean O’Brien and Ruan Roelofse, however, won in 10-8 in a final set tiebreaker.
Singles main draw will continue on Thursday with all four quarterfinal singles matches beginning with US-American player Eric Quigley versus Henri Laaksonen of Switzerland. Third on after noon will be a dual of two US-American players, Mackenzie McDonald and Mitchell Krueger. McDonald, a qualifier, is a junior at UCLA and a two-time All-American. The feature singles match of the day will be top seeded Malek Jaziri versus No. 1 ranked junior Taylor Fritz. Jaziri and Fritz will begin play on court 1 the second match after 5:30pm.
As for doubles, the three top seeded teams will all play on Thursday throughout the day. The doubles feature match will consist of former Illini players Dennis Nevolo and Tim Kopinski versus Joshua Milton and John-Patrick Smith of Great Britain.
RESULTS – NOVEMBER 18, 2015 Men’s Singles – Second Round
[1] M. Jaziri (TUN) d D. Nguyen (USA) 75 76(5)
[2] A. Krajicek (USA) d A. Bossel (SUI) 76(3) 63
[Q] M. McDonald (USA) d [3] R. Harrison (USA) 26 61 00 retired
M. Krueger (USA) d [6] J. Smith (AUS) 75 76(3)
[Q] C. Thompson (USA) d [8] B. Rola (SLO) 76(4) 63
T. Fritz (USA) d D. Evans (GBR) 62 36 64
E. Quigley (USA) d F. Tiafoe (USA) 63 67(3) 64
H. Laaksonen (SUI) d F. Nielsen (DEN) 36 76(6) 76(3)
Men’s Doubles – First Round
[1] A. Krajicek (USA) / N. Monroe (USA) d D. Novikov (USA) / E. Quigley (USA) 76(3) 62
[2] J. Brunstrom (SWE) / F. Nielsen (DEN) d R. Gonzales (PHI) / D. Nguyen (USA) 76(3) 64
[3] D. O’Brien (RSA) / R. Roelofse (RSA) d S. Bangoura (USA) / M. Seeberger (USA) 46 63 10-8
[LL] D. Rice (GBR) / M. Willis (GBR) d A. Falla (COL) / G. Lapentti (ECU) walkover
