Men’s Tennis: Fraser Gets Upset Win In Day 1 Of Cajuns Tennis Classic
LAFAYETTE – Louisiana sophomore Jamie Fraser upset No. 4 seeded Alex Sendegeya in straight sets 7-6(4), 6-2, while freshman Dominik Koenig won his first career match in the back draws’ first round to highlight the Ragin’ Cajuns men’s tennis team’s first day at the 2017 John Breaux Cajuns Tennis Classic here at Cajuns Courts.
Although Fraser was knocked off in the second round, his upset of Sendegeya was a great way for the Cajuns to start the day and Koenig’s win gave the Cajuns something to hang their hat on at the end of the day.
HOW IT HAPPENED DOUBLES (First Round): The Cajuns, had three tough doubles matches in the first round to start off their day on the courts.
Louisiana’s freshmen pairing of Koenig and Pierce Gilheany faced up against the No. 1 seeded Texas pairing of juniors Rodrigo Banzer and Leonardo Telles. The Cajuns grouping put up a fight in their match, but they couldn’t pull a game and they dropped the match 6-0.
Cajuns freshman Nico Sojka and Fraser drew the No. 2 seeded Texas Tech pair of seniors Connor Curry and Artem Kapshuk. The Cajuns duo did take a game early in the match to put it at 2-1 in favor of the Red Raider pair. But from there they dropped the next four games to drop the match 6-1.
The final pairing for the Cajuns was the grouping of senior Vlad Kramarov and sophomore Pearse Dolan. They put up the best fight of the day, including holding off the No. 4 seeded Oklahoma State duo of senior Jurence Mendoza and freshman Maxim Tybar in the second game to win in a deuce point.
But in the end, after tying the match at 2-2, the Cajuns dropped the next four games to lose the match 6-2.
HOW IT HAPPENED (Singles First Round Main Draw): Drawing the No. 4 seeded Alex Sendegeya of Texas Tech was the Cajuns’ Fraser. But the seeded player didn’t intimidate him and in straight sets he knocked off the seeded Red Raider 7-6(4), 6-2.
The first set was a battle and Sendegeya didn’t go down easily. With Fraser leading 5-3 and on the cusp of taking the set, Sendegeya fought back taking the next two games before Fraser went up 6-5.
With the score sitting at 6-5, Sendegeya forced a deuce point and snagged it from Fraser to force a tiebreaker. But it was here that Fraser slammed the door shut, taking the final four points to win the breaker and take the first set.
In the second set, Fraser didn’t allow Sendegeya to breathe and he dominated the set. With the set score at 3-2, Fraser pulled Sendegeya towards the net and with a confident stroke nailed one down the line to take a commanding 4-2 lead.
From there Fraser controlled the final two points and with a confident strike he exploded with excitement to finish off Sendegeya, 6-2, to move onto the next round.
Koenig had a tough match against LSU’s Nikola Samardzic, and while he played strong throughout, Koenig dropped the match in straight sets 6-4, 6-3.
On court four the Cajuns’ Dolan had a strong matchup against South Florida’s Nils Hiemer, and although Dolan battled until the end, he too fell in straight sets 6-4, 6-4. Dolan was in both sets having the score at 3-3 in the first set and 3-4 in the second, but Himer controlled his end of the court not allowing Dolan to get back into the match.
A true battle took place between Louisiana’s Sojka and USF freshman Sean Burnette, which Burnette took 1-6, 6-4, 7-6(3).
Sjoka dominated the first set, taking five straight points to win 6-1. But Burnette came back in the second set and won 6-4 to force a deciding third set. In that final set Sjoka jumped out in front and had a 5-2 lead, but he didn’t hold his lead and Burnette worked his way back to tie the match at 6-6.
In the tiebreaker, Burnette jumped ahead and was leading 6-3, but Sjoka didn’t let the match go away easily. In the 10th point of the breaker, the two competitors became entangled in a 10-shot rally that Sjoka took to put the score at 6-4. But Burnette snagged the next point and won the match.
On court six, Louisiana’s Kramarov took on Texas junior Colin Markes and their match was a good one as well. But Markes took the match in straight sets 6-4, 6-4 to advance to the second round.
HOW IT HAPPENED (Singles Second Round Main Draw): After Fraser’s big first round win, he was matched up to face John Mee of Texas and although Fraser lost in straight sets 6-4, 6-2, he did put up a fight showing the Cajuns spirit.
Fraser battled through the first set and both him and Mee traded leads until it was 4-4, a tie that Fraser forced winning a game with the score at 3-4. But Mee pulled away late in the set to take the first set 6-4.
In the second set Fraser jumped out to an early 2-1 lead, but Mee got back into it and won the final five points to take the set, 6-2, and the match advancing to the quarterfinals scheduled for tomorrow.
HOW IT HAPPENED (Singles First Round Back Draw): In the back draw, Koenig drew Georgia State’s Sebastian Acuna, who had been the No. 1 seed in the first round of the main draw. Koenig was not intimated and he proved it winning the match 7-6(2), 0-6, 1-0(8).
In the first set Koenig set the tone and he fought off the previous No. 1 seed to win in a close tiebreaker 7-5. But in the second set Acuna showed why he earned the No. 1 seed and he came out on a tear to take the second set 6-0.
That set up a third set tie-breaker and it was here that Koenig put his foot down to get his first college win. He dominated the breaker from start to finish and won easily 10-2 to take the match and move into tomorrow’s quarterfinals of the back draw.
Dolan faced LSU’s Agie Moreno in their first-round back draw matchup, and while Dolan put up a fight, he dropped the match 6-4, 1-6, 1-0(2). Dolan dropped his first set but showed determination coming out in the second set and dominating to a 6-1 victory.
At that point, it came down to a third set tie-breaker and it was here Dolan showed grit. He battled until the end, and he gave Moreno everything he could but after it was all said and done Moreno had pulled away for the 10-8 win in the breaker.
In Kramarov’s back draw match he took on Georgia State’s Quincy Couland and dropped the match in straight sets 7-5, 6-4. He did put up a fight in the first set to force the Couland to win with a seventh point but it wasn’t enough.
The second set saw Kramarov stay in for most of the match, but Couland pulled away late and won the second set 6-4 for the win.
Louisiana’s Sojka took on Kentucky’s Gus Benson in their first-round back draw match and Sojka put up quite the resistance in the first set, but in the end Benson won in straight sets 7-6(3), 6-0.
In that first set Sojka wasn’t ready to hand Benson the early lead and it went to a tiebreaker which Benson pulled away late in to get the victory. Sojka couldn’t build on his first set finish and Benson won the second set, 6-0.
UP NEXT: The Cajuns Tennis Classic countines tommrow with the Cajuns playing in the back draw of the doubles and Koenig taking on LSU’s Moreno in the flight two singles back draw semifinals.
Both the main and back draw doubles quarterfinals are scheduled to start at 9:30 a.m., with the semifinals scheduled for a 4:00 p.m. start. While the singles semis of the back draw are scheduled for a 10:30 a.m. start. The main draw singles semis are scheduled to start at noon.
2017 John Breaux Cajuns Tennis Classic (Day One)
September 22, 2017 at Cajuns Courts
Doubles (First Round) Main Draw:
Telles/Banzer (Texas) def. Koenig/Gilheany (UL) 6-0
Tybar/Mendoza (OSU) def. Dolan/Kramarov (UL) 6-2
Kapshuk/Curry (TTU) def. Fraser/Sojka (UL) 6-1
Singles Flight One (First Round) Main Draw:
Jamie Fraser (UL) def. Alex Sendegeya (Texas) 7-6(4), 6-2
Singles Flight Two (First Round) Main Draw:
Nicola Samardzic (LSU) def. Dominik Koenig (UL) 6-4, 6-3
Nils Heimer (USF) def. Pearse Dolan (UL) 6-4, 6-4
Collin Markes (Texas) def. Vlad Kramarov (UL) 6-4, 6-4
Sean Burnette (USF) def. Nico Sojka (UL) 1-6, 6-4, 7-6 (4)
Singles Flight One (Second Round) Main Draw:
John Mee (Texas) def. Fraser (UL) 6-4, 6-2
Singles Flight Two (First Round) Back Draw:
Koenig (UL) def. Sebastian Acuna 7-6(2), 0-6, 1-0(8)
Agie Moreno (LSU) def. Dolan (UL) 6-4, 1-6, 1-0(2)
Quincy Couland (GSU) def. Kramarov (UL) 7-5, 6-4
Gus Benson (UK) def. Sojka (UL) 7-6(3), 6-0
