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Friday, May 13, 2022

Kevin Anderson's Advice to Juniors Considering College; All Super Regional Hosts in Action Friday Advance to NCAA D-I Quarterfinals; Three Americans Reach Semifinals at Sarasota $25K

Kevin Anderson announced his retirement last week, and in a Zoom press conference, I had an opportunity to ask him, for this Tennis Recruiting Network article, how his college experience at the University of Illinois from 2005-2007 prepared him for his outstanding professional career. In addition to all the reflections Anderson provided regarding his college career, current Illini head coach Brad Dancer gave me four aspects of college tennis that contributed to Anderson's ATP success. Anderson also spoke about his interest in coaching, as long as it doesn't require travel, and the charitable organizations he intends to give more support to, now that he has the time. And he answers again a question that he said he been asked hundreds of times about whether a top junior should go to college or turn pro.

The eight Division I Super Regionals weren't exactly super in terms of excitement today, with the host teams all advancing to the quarterfinals and only the last match of the day, featuring Stanford and Baylor, could be termed compelling. 

Unseeded Stanford needed the doubles point in the contest with No. 3 seed Baylor and they got it, as well as the first singles point, with Max Basing beating Sven Lah 6-1, 6-1 at line 3.

Adrian Boitan got the Bears on the board just a minute later, beating Arthur Fery at line 1 6-1, 6-2.  But just as that was happening, Stanford's Alexandre Rotsaert got a split with Finn Bass at line 4, which gave the Cardinal hope, despite the fact that they had lost the first sets at lines 5 and 6. Axel Geller made it 3-1 Stanford with a 6-3, 7-6(6) win over Matias Soto at line 2, but Bass was up 3-1 in the third set against Rotsaert, as lines 5 and 6 went to second set tiebreakers. With Bass protecting his big lead in the third set, Stanford needed either Sangeet Sridhar at line 5 or Timothy Sah at line 6 to win a tiebreaker, but neither could. In rapid succession, Tadeas Paroulek took his tiebreaker for a 6-3, 7-6(5) victory over Sridhar, Bass closed out Rotsaert 6-2, 4-6, 6-1 and Juan Pablo Grassi Mazzuchi took a 6-3 lead in the tiebreaker against Sah. Sah saved two match points, but couldn't save the third, with the large crowd at the Hurd Center celebrating Grassi Mazzuchi's 7-5, 7-6(5) victory with nearly as much energy as the Baylor team itself. Baylor will take on the winner of Saturday's Super Regional between No. 6 Tennessee and unseeded Florida State.

Defending women's champions Texas, seeded No. 4, lost the doubles point, but cruised past No. 13 seed Auburn in singles, to post a 4-1 win in Austin. The Longhorns will play the winner of the Super Regional in Charlottesville Saturday featuring No. 5 Virginia and No. 12 Oklahoma State.

Top seed North Carolina quickly dispensed of No. 16 seed Florida 4-0, and No. 8 seed Pepperdine blanked No. 9 Miami to set up their quarterfinal meeting in Champaign next Friday. 

No. 2 seed Oklahoma, playing without its No. 2 player Anchisa Chanta, who is competing for Thailand in the Southeast Asian Games this week, continued their stellar season with a 4-1 win over No. 15 seed Stanford. Oklahoma won the doubles point and five first sets in singles, with Stanford's only point coming from Sarah Choy at line 6. The Corley sisters took points at lines 2 and 3 for the Sooners and Dana Guzman clinched the match with a 6-2, 6-4 win over India Houghton at line 4. Oklahoma plays the winner of Saturday's Super Regional between No. 7 seed Texas A&M and unseeded Vanderbilt.

No. 3 seed Duke took out a stubborn Georgia squad, with the Blue Devils needing three and a half hours to put up a 4-1 victory. Duke took the doubles point and got wins from Emma Jackson at 3, Chloe Beck at 1 before Georgia Drummy earned a 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 win over Dasha Vidmanova at line 2 for the clinch. The No. 14 Bulldogs got their point from Ania Hertl at line 5, with the two unfinished matches too close to call. Duke will play the winner of Saturday's match between No. 6 NC State and No. 11 Cal.

After a two-hour delay for lightning, defending men's champion Florida, the No. 2 seed, and No. 15 seed North Carolina finally took the courts in Gainesville. Florida squeezed out the doubles point in a tiebreaker at line 3, and got two more quick points in singles from Ben Shelton at line 1 and Josh Goodger at line 6. The fourth point took quite a bit longer, but Duarte Vale delivered it with a 6-4, 7-6(3) win over Mac Kiger at line 3.

The Gators will take on No. 7 seed Virginia, who was equally impressive in their 4-0 over South Carolina, Thursday in Champaign.

Saturday's schedule (home team last):

Women:
Oklahoma State[12] v Virginia[5] 1:00 pm
California[1]] v NC State[6] 3:00 pm
Vanderbilt v Texas A&M[7] 3:00 pm

Men:
Southern Cal[13] v Ohio State[4] noon
Texas[12] v Michigan[5] noon*
Wake Forest[9] v Kentucky[8] 2:00 pm
NC State v TCU[1] 4:00 pm
Florida State v Tennessee[6] 4:00 pm

*match moved up one hour from previous announced time

Streaming is available at the TennisONE app; links to live scoring can be found at collegetennistoday.com.

At the $25,000 USTA Women's Pro Circuit tournament in Sarasota Florida, three Americans have advanced to Saturday's semifinals. No. 7 seed Ashlyn Krueger advanced when Sabine Lisicki of Germany retired trailing 7-6(4), 2-2. Krueger will face wild card Samantha Crawford, who defeated unseeded Kennedy Shaffer(Georgia) 6-2, 6-4.  In the top half, former Georgia star Maria Carle of Argentina reached the semifinals after a lengthy contest with unseeded Maria Jose Portillo Ramirez of Mexico, with Carle winning it 1-6, 6-4, 6-0. Carle will play No. 8 seed Ellie Halbauer, who moved on when No. 3 seed Sophie Chang retired after losing the first set 7-5.

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