MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The Lee University men's tennis team competed this past weekend at the 2023 GSC Fall Tennis Open. The doubles and individual championships were contested at Lagoon Park Tennis Center.
The Flames produced one champion in four draws of doubles competition. They also had a representative in the final of five of the 10 draws with one win.
Wihan Van Der Merwe and Jordi Dasi went 3-0 in the third draw of doubles. The duo beat Ryota Nakajima and Gabriel Variano of Montevallo 6-4 in the Quarterfinal before earning a spot in the final with a 6-3 win over Joshua Blundell-Williams and Felipe Ferreira Iser of Mississippi College. In the final against Agustin Marquez and Adrian Contreras, Van Der Merwe and Dasi grabbed the championship by a 6-2 margin.
In other doubles action, Francisco Faria and Filipe Krohn lost their first match and battled back to win their back draw semifinal and final matches. Quinn and Mike Groenendijk did the same in the second draw. In the fourth draw of doubles, Yike Liu and Peng Hou won 7-6 (7-3) against Nick Hartmann and Vittorio Noli of Montevallo before falling 6-2 to Joaquin Estevez and Mateo Martinez of West Florida in the semifinal.
Hou secured Lee's lone singles draw championship in the 10
th draw. He received a bye in the quarterfinals and defeated Julius Ziebart of Montevallo 6-3, 3-6, 1-0 (10-7) in the semifinals. Hou was pushed to three sets again in the final against West Florida's William Meyering, but held on to win 7-5, 4-6, 1-0 (10-7).
Van Der Merwe posted wins against Mississippi College's Rafael Sabio and West Florida's Sebastian Rondon to advance to the final of draw No. 2 against Boruch Skierkier of Valdosta State. Van Der Merwe dropped the first set in a tiebreaker 7-6 (7-5) and forced a third set with a 6-4 rebound. Skierkier held on to win the super set tiebreaker 10-8 for the match win.
Quinn Groenendijk beat Federico Nicolas Iturbe (West Alabama) and Alvaro Saint Martin (Mississippi College) to reach the final of the third draw against Rodrigo Carvalho of Valdosta State. Groenendijk lost in the final match 6-3, 7-6 (7-4).
Viktor Yanev started his weekend with a 6-1, 6-0 win over Delta State's Luca Hoffmann in the quarterfinals. He took down West Florida's Filipe Grebentsov 6-4, 6-1 to take a spot in the seventh draw final against Nakajima of Montevallo. Nakajima won the draw in straight-sets 6-2 and 6-1.
Liu claimed a three-set win over Bernardo Costa (UWF) in the quarterfinals of draw No. 8 and dropped just four points to Montevallo's Sam Parsons. Liu then was defeated by West Florida's Estevez by matching 6-4 scores in the final.
Faria, Dasi and Krohn each went 1-1 in their singles draws, winning their first and losing in the semifinals. In the first draw, Faria defeated Emiliano Elazarraraz of Delta State 6-4 and 6-3 before losing in three sets to Alex Benichou-Blanchard of Mississippi College. Dasi beat Mario Molina Mari of Shorter and lost to Valdosta State's Christian Wedel. Krohn won in three sets against Miguel Gamborino (West Alabama) and dropped two sets to Mateo Martinez (West Florida).
Mike Groenendijk received a bye in the quarterfinal round of draw No. 6. He then lost 6-2, 6-3 to Alejandro Verdasco of AUM in the semifinal.
Coach Patric Hines' Thoughts:
"It's always good to be able to see what the rest of our league looks like. Overall, I think this weekend was a great experience for our teams. We'll move into our off-season program now and continue to try and improve to get ready for our spring season."
FULL RESULTS
MEN'S 1 DOUBLES – Francisco Faria/Filipe Krohn
Quarterfinals – vs. Rodrigo Carvalho/Boruch Skierkier (VSU) L 2-6
Back Draw Semifinal – vs Emiliano Elazarraraz/Goran Krivokapic (DSU) W 6-1
Back Draw Final – vs Lucas Hammond/Federico Nicolas Iturbe (UWA) W 6-1
MEN'S 2 DOUBLES – Quinn Groenendijk/Mike Groenendijk
Quarterfinals – vs Diego Duran/A. Ekenros (UWF) L 3-6
Back Draw Semifinals – vs David Arrieta/Agustín Yap Binet (Shorter) W 6-2
Back Draw Final – vs Alvaro Saint Martin/Joseph Jarvis (MC) W 6-2
MEN'S DOUBLES DRAW 3 – Wihan Van Der Merwe/Jordi Dasi
Quarterfinals – vs Ryota Nakajima/Gabriel Variano (UM) W 6-4
Semifinals – vs Joshua Blundell-Williams/Felipe Ferreira Iser (MC) W 6-3
Final – vs Agustín Marquez/Adrian Contreras (AUM) W 6-2
MEN'S DOUBLES DRAW 4 – Yike Liu/Peng Hou
Quarterfinals – vs Nick Hartmann/Vittorio Noli (UM) W 7-6 (7-3)
Semifinals – vs Joaquin Estevez/Mateo Martinez (UWF) L 2-6
MEN'S DRAW 1 – Francisco Faria
Quarterfinals – vs Emiliano Elazarraraz (DSU) W 6-4, 6-3
Semifinals – Alex Benichou-Blanchard (MC) L 6-4, 4-6, 0-1 (9-11)
MEN'S DRAW 2 – Wihan Van Der Merwe
Quarterfinals – vs Rafael Sabio (MC) W 6-4, 3-6, 1-0 (10-7)
Semifinals – vs Sebastian Rondon (UWF) W 7-5, 7-6 (7-5)
Final – vs Boruch Skierkier (VSU) L 6-7 (5-7), 6-4, 0-1 (8-10)
MEN'S DRAW 3 – Quinn Groenendijk
Quarterfinals – vs Federico Nicolas Iturbe (UWA) W 6-4, 6-2
Semifinals – vs Alvaro Saint Martin (MC) W 7-5, 6-4
Final – Rodrigo Carvalho (VSU) L 3-6, 6-7 (4-7)
MEN'S DRAW 4 – Jordi Dasi
Quarterfinals – vs Mario Molina Mari (Shorter) W 6-2, 6-1
Semifinals – vs Christian Wedel (VSU) L 4-6, 2-6
MEN'S DRAW 5 – Filipe Krohn
Quarterfinals – vs Miguel Gamborino (UWA) W 6-2, 3-6, 7-5
Semifinals – vs Mateo Martinez (UWF) L 4-6, 1-6
MEN'S DRAW 6 – Mike Groenendijik
Quarterfinals – Bye
Semifinals – vs Alejandro Verdasco (AUM) L 2-6, 3-6
MEN'S DRAW 7 – Viktor Yanev
Quarterfinals – vs Luca Hoffmann (DSU) W 6-1, 6-0
Semifinals – vs Filipe Grebentsov (UWF) W 6-4, 6-1
Final – vs Ryota Nakajima (UM) L 2-6, 1-6
MEN'S DRAW 8 – Yike Liu
Quarterfinals – vs Bernardo Costa (UWF) W 6-1, 3-6, 1-0 (12-10)
Semifinals – vs Sam Parsons (UM) W 6-1, 6-3
Final – vs Joaquin Estevez (UWF) L 4-6, 4-6
MEN'S DRAW 10 – Peng Hou
Quarterfinals – Bye
Semifinals – vs Julius Ziebart (UM) W 6-3, 3-6, 1-0 (10-7)
Final – vs William Meyering (UWF) W 7-5, 4-6, 1-0 (10-7)
