By outreach@cw.ua.edu (Jenny Hudson)
Five members of the Alabama men’s tennis team began competing in the USTA 10k Futures event at Birmingham’s Highland Park Tennis Center on Oct. 28.
The 10-day event is featuring seniors Hayes Brewer and Ritchie Kruunenberg, sophomore Spencer Richey, and freshmen Alexey Nesterov and Thibault Cancel. There are also 119 other competitors registered.
The Crimson Tide began the tournament with victories from its senior and freshmen.
France’s Mathias Degarin became Cancel’s first victim with 6-0, 6-1 sets on the first day, leading to Cancel’s advancement to the second round where he defeated America’s Jibran Akhtar with straight 6-1, 6-0 sets.
The third day once again belonged to Cancel with 6-1, 6-3 straight sets victory over Columbia native Sebastian Sanchez. Cancel will compete against Puerto Rico’s Alex Diaz on Monday in an attempt to qualify for the single’s division main draw.
Alexey Nesterov got off to an impressive start with 6-1, 6-1 sets over the United States’ Alex Sklizovic before being eliminated by Czech’s Miroslav Herzan in 0-6, 7-2(2), 7-6(6) sets
It took straight 6-1, 6-1 sets for Ritchie Kruunenberg to eliminate Ecuador’s Alexis Salazar on the first day before facing France’s Jocelyn Devilliers on the second day, where he was eliminated in 7-5, 6-1 sets.
The USTA 10k Futures event is set to conclude on Sunday.
Source:: The Crimson White Sports
