Copyright © 2015. No duplication is permitted without permission from Bob Larson Tennis.

After the last rounds of qualifying and day one of the main draw 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 tomorrow Nov. 17 at Atkins Tennis Center beginning at 10:00am.

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 Francis Tiafoe – and the champion – Daniel Evans of Great Britain – of the previous challenger, Knoxville, will compete in their first round matches tomorrow. 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 today to the first seed Malek Jaziri of Tunisia.

Other players to watch in singles on day 2 include former Illini Dennis Nevolo as well as current Illini Jared Hiltzik. Both Nevolo and Hiltzik received wildcards into the event and both play opponents that had to qualify to earn spots into the main draw. Hiltzik is scheduled to play on court 1 not before 5:30pm; Nevolo’s match scheduled to follow thereafter.

Two main draw doubles matches are also scheduled for not before 6:00pm on court two. One of which includes current Illinois players Julian Childers and Asher Hirsch.

*The JSM Challenger is the third event of the Australian Open Main Draw Wild Card Challenge: The player with the highest total cumulative singles main draw ATP ranking points from the 3 challenger events selected will be awarded a wild card into the main draw of the Australian Open. The 3 events include Charlottesville, Knoxville and Champaign.

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

Men’s
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

Mens
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

Mens
Qualifying Doubles – Second Round
Qualifying – [1] D. Smethurst (GBR) / D. Walsh (GBR) d [2] D. Rice (GBR) / M. Willis (GBR) 67(4) 64 10-4

ORDER OF PLAY – TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2015

COURT 1 start 10:00 am

[Q] R. Sarmiento (USA) vs [2] A. Krajicek (USA)

Not Before 11:30 am

[Q] C. Buchanan (USA) vs H. Laaksonen (SUI)

D. Evans (GBR) vs [7] B. Fratangelo (USA)

[5] A. Falla (COL) vs F. Tiafoe (USA)

Not Before 5:30 pm

[WC] J. Hiltzik (USA) vs [Q] M. McDonald (USA)

[WC] D. Nevolo (USA) vs [Q] C. Thompson (USA)

COURT 2 start 10:00 am

J. Donaldson (USA) vs M. Krueger (USA)

Not Before 11:30 am

[8] B. Rola (SLO) vs L. Broady (GBR)

D. Novikov (USA) vs [6] J. Smith (AUS)

Not Before 4:00 pm

F. Nielsen (DEN) vs [4] J. Duckworth (AUS)

Not Before 6:00 pm

[Q] D. Smethurst (GBR) / D. Walsh (GBR) vs [WC] J. Childers (USA) / A. Hirsch (USA)

[WC] S. Kozlov (USA) / M. Mmoh (USA) vs D. O’hare (IRL) / J. Salisbury (GBR)

Copyright © 2015. No duplication is permitted without permission from Bob Larson Tennis.