This is the first Challenger tournament I have watched all the way through thanks to the live streaming at www.usta.com. Thanks to that live streaming I will also be able to cover the Knoxville Challenger this week and the Champaign Challenger in the weeks to follow.
At the indoor home of the University of Virginia Cavaliers tennis team, of course current and past players showed up to try to take home a challenger title. In the qualifying singles tournament, Virginia's Ryan Shane was the only wildcard to advance past the first round. He ended up picking up another win before falling to Great Britain's Joshua Milton in 3 sets. The USA's Kevin King, Great Britain's David Rice and France's Laurent Rochette also won 3 qualifying matches to reach the main draw.
List of UVA (Former or Current) in the tourney:
MD Singles: Qualifying Singles:
Jamere Jenkins (WC) Sanam Singh
Mac Styslinger (WC) John Harrison Richmond (WC)
Mitchell Frank (WC) Ryan Shane (WC)
Teddy Angelinos Jordan Daigle (WC)
Somdev Devvarman JC Aragone (WC)
In Singles, the upsets started right away in the first round as India's Syketh Myneni took out the top seed Tim Smyczek (USA) in 3 sets. Myneni came out very strong and aggressive and also held a lead most of the second set, but nerves kicked in and were his downfall. But then he got right back at it to finish off the tournament's top seed. Former Ohio State Buckeye Chase Buchanan took on former Texas A&M Aggie Austin Krajicek. Both won an NCAA doubles title and a singles title at Kalamazoo. Krajicek was in control the first two sets, but Buchanan stuck around and won the 2nd set in a tiebreak to force a 3rd set. In the 3rd set Buchanan seemed more in control but was able to finish it off in a strong 3rd set tiebreak to win the match 5-7, 7-6, 7-6. Young Canadian Filip Peliwo took on young American Bjorn Fratenjelo in the first round. Both players have a junior grand slam to their name, but Peliwo beat Fratenjelo for the first time in three meetings 6-2, 6-2. Canadian Jesse Levine beat the 2 time NCAA Champ from USC Steve Johnson 7-6, 6-4 to continue Johnson's singles slump. Next up, former teammates at Virginia Jarmere Jenkins and Mac Styslinger played (both in the tournaments from a wildcard). They actually won the NCAA doubles title together this past spring as well. Jenkins got the better of Styslinger though winning handily 6-3, 6-3. The last covered match was former UVA player Somdev Devvarman (A 2-Time NCAA Singles Champion) struggling through his first round match with Australian Samuel Groth. Despite playing his best tennis, Devvarman held on to win 3-6, 6-3, 6-4. New York's Noah Rubin also got a WC and lost his first round match to Peter Polansky 6-3, 7-5.
In the 2nd round, Saketh Myneni continued his winning ways by overpowering Chase Buchanan 6-4, 6-4. In an all-Canadian matchup, Peliwo (who is moving to Spain in a few weeks to train) lost to fellow countryman Jesse Levine 7-5, 6-2. Jarmere Jenkins put on another good showing in singles, taking out former UVA player Teddy Angelinos 6-3, 7-6. UVA Player Mitchell Frank could not continue his run in the main draw, as Donald Young took out Frank 6-3, 6-4.
In the quarterfinals, Jesse Levine ended Syketh Myneni's run here, defeating him 6-4, 6-0. America's Michael Russell (seeded 3rd) took out the hometown star Jarmere Jenkins 6-3, 7-6. The match between Donald Young and Peter Polansky served to be an interesting one. Donald Young pumped himself to take the 2nd set and force a 3rd one. He was even up a break at 2-1 in the 3rd set, before Young started hitting a lot of unforced errors and handing the match to Polansky, as Young dropped the 3rd set 6-2. Some frustration showed as Young hit a water bottle and got a racquet abuse violation. Young claimed that if he was going to get a warning, they can at least give him the right one, as he claimed racquet abuse is if he hits the ground with it. The next quarterfinal featured hometown hero Somdev Devvarman (one of only 2 Cavaliers to have their jersey retired) and former Tennessee Volunteer star Rhyne Williams. Despite a slow start, Williams fought back to win the first set 7-6. In the second set after some bad calls by the line judges, Williams started getting frustrated before starting to fight with members of the crowd. The head umpire stopped the bickering, which ultimately did bad for their hometown favorite as it pumped up Williams to win the match 7-6, 6-4.
Semifinal Saturday: The first match of the day featuring Peter Polansky and Rhyne Williams had a strange twist to it. Williams handily took the first set 6-2. In the second set, the first four games took 30 minutes, as Polansky broke Williams to go up 3-1. From there, it was all Peter Polansky, as he finished the next 3 games in 10 minutes to take the second set 6-1. The third set Williams initially put up a fight, but Polansky kept rolling. Williams looked very fatigued and became very frustrating, yelling at one point, "Get me to Knoxville!" pretty much showing he was done with the match and wanted to go the next tournament in Knoxville (where his former college is). Polansky went on to win the match 2-6, 6-1, 6-2 to clinch a spot in the singles title. Not as dramatic of the 2nd singles semi as Michael Russell defeated Jesse Levine 6-0, 3-1 before Levine retired due to an abdominal injury that will end his 2013 season.
In the singles final between Michael Russell and Peter Polansky, the match was pretty straight forward and on serve until Michael Russell broke Peter Polansky at love when it was 5-5 in the first set. Russell then held on to take the 1st set 7-5. Right away though, Polansky started getting more depth on his return and broke on his first opportunity to go up 2-0 (3-0 after he held his service game as well). Polansky then broke at 5-2 to take the second set 6-2 and to play in his 3rd straight 3 set match. Polansky was up 5-0 in the 3rd set and en route to his second straight title when Michael Russell came back to tie it at 5-5. At 6-6, the tiebreaker occurred and Polansky was up 5-2 there. Once again, Michael Russell wasn't quitting and won the next 5 points to take the Charlottesville Challenger singles title.
Had enough yet? Doubles time.
In the semifinals, Austin Krajicek and Tennys Sandgren were the only seeded doubles team to move on to this stage as they town on the hometown favorites Jarmere Jenkins and Donald Young. Young and Jenkins reached the finals together at the Sacramento Challenger in September and lost after blowing match points in the final. More controversy occurred in this match as a questionable line call in the 2nd set had Krajicek and Sandgren arguing with the chair. Then they walked away and Krajicek was still arguing when Sandgren told told him to calm down. At that point, Sandgren then got an unsportsmanlike conduct warning, which made no sense at all and was a blown call by the umpire. With the crowd behind them, Jenkins and Young took out the 2 seeds 6-4, 5-7, 10-8.
In the second semifinal, Tim Smyczek and Steve Johnson beat the British team of David Rice and Sean Thornley 7-6, 6-2. Both Smyczek and Johnson lost the first round in singles, allowing them a chance to focus on doubles for the week.
In the finals, Smyczek and Johnson came out playing free with no pressure to take the first set 6-4. In the second set, more controversy occurred as Jenkins hit a winner that both Johnson and Smyczek claimed was a double bounce, but the chair didn't see it the same way. At 6-4, 5-4 Deuce (with no add scoring) Tim Smyczek chose to return like most of the week, and on a Donald Young second serve, the team of Johnson and Smyczek finished the point to win the Charlottesville Challenger doubles title.
Formerly known as Fry That Chicken, this blog features what's happening in the world of sports. Twitter @BelievelandS Picture via bomble.com
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