Alabama Men’s Tennis Wraps Up Successful Summer
8/17/2018 12:07:00 PM | Men's Tennis
The Crimson Tide concluded a highly-competitive summer season
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Alabama men's tennis players were spread across the globe this summer playing in various competitions, while having great success. The team will return to campus in the next couple of days, but until then check out what they did over the last week of summer play.
Edson Ortiz | Chihuahua, Mexico
Ortiz made it all the way to the finals of the 2018 Oracle ITA National Summer Championships before he fell in a tough match to Jake Van Emburgh (OU), 7-6(4), 7-6(6) on Tuesday. As the No. 11 seed in the tournament, Ortiz began his run by cruising past Casey Ross (Dartmouth), 6-2, 6-3, and Thomas Brown (South Carolina), 6-4, 6-1, to make it to the Round of 16 where he defeated Marius Frosa (Wichita State), 7-6(5), 7-5. In the quarterfinal round, Ortiz moved past a strong opponent in Alex Rybakov (TCU) who was ranked at No. 517 in the ATP World Singles Rankings, 7-5, 6-4, to move to the semifinals before he came from behind to defeat Josh Sheehy (Abilene Christian), 4-6, 6-3, 1-0 (10-6), to secure his spot in the finals. Overall, Edson was dominant this summer, reaching the finals in all five of the tournaments he played in, while winning four.
Patrick Kaukovalta | Espoo, Finland
Kaukovalta won his first futures doubles title last week as he and partner Eero Vasa earned their way to the championship of the Finland F2 Futures after winning three straight matches before defeating Huurinainen/Sarpola (Finland), 6-4, 6-3, in the championship. During the summer, the rising sophomore's club team won the Finnish Club Nationals in July and went 7-2 in three ITF doubles tournaments.
Alexey Nesterov | Moscow, Russia
Nesterov most recently qualified for the Russia F6 Futures singles tournament in his hometown of Moscow after moving past Egor Shutov (Russia), 6-1, 6-1, and Alexey Aleshchev (Russia), 6-4, 6-4. In the main draw, Nesterov battled to a 6-2, 7-5, victory over Ivan Denisov (Russia) before falling in the Round of 16. In total, Nesterov qualified for two main draws in ITF events this summer, while also playing in three main draws in doubles.
Zhe Zhou | Tianjin, China
Most recently, Zhou competed in the China F12 Futures event where he advanced to the Round of 16 in the singles main draw and to the quarterfinals of the doubles main draw with partner Tianjia Guo. Throughout the summer Zhou played all four of his tournaments in China, while finishing with a 7-4 record in ITF events in singles and a 3-3 mark in doubles action. The rising junior qualified for three ITF singles and three doubles main draws during the summer.
Thibault Cancel | Toulouse, France
Cancel compiled a 9-4 record in five ITF singles tournaments this summer, while playing in Austria, France and Russia. The rising junior for the Tide also played in two ITF doubles main draws.
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Players Mentioned
