11th-ranked Baylor men's tennis saw two players advance to the main draw singles quarterfinals after day one of the Sherwood Collegiate Cup Friday at the Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks, Calif.
First, Jimmy Bendeck edged eighth-seeded Maxime Cressy of UCLA in a three-set thriller, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(3), before knocking out USC’s Laurens Verboven in three sets, 7-6(5), 2-6, 6-3, to advance to the quarterfinals.
Also, Third-seeded Bjoern Petersen also had a big opening round win, this one over Stanford’s Michael Genender, 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(6). Then, he clinched a spot in the main draw quarterfinals with a 6-2, 7-6(5) victory over UCLA’s Austin Rapp.
Going 1-1 on the day were five other Bears. First, top-seeded and No. 11 Johannes Schretter was upset in the main draw opening round by Stanford’s Jack Barber, 6-2, 5-7, 6-2, but bounced back quickly in the consolation round of 16 against USC’s Mateusz Smolicki, 5-7, 6-3, 1-0(7).
Will Little opened the singles draw with a 6-3, 6-3 win over USC’s seventh-seeded Jack Jaede but then suffered a 5-7, 6-2, 6-1 loss to Stanford’s William Genesen. Meanwhile, Roy Smith earned a 1-6, 7-5, 6-2 win over UCLA’s Connor Hance in the first round but was tripped up in the round of 16 by Stanford’s second-seeded Tom Fawcett, 6-3, 6-2.
Constantin Frantzen advanced to the round of 16 with a 1-6, 6-2, 6-2 victory over Stanford’s David Wilczynski but then dropped a 6-2, 7-6(5) loss to sixth-seeded Keegan Smith of UCLA. Matias Soto earned his first collegiate singles victory with a 6-0, 6-1 triumph over UCLA’s Bryce Pereira. He then fell 6-4, 6-2 to Stanford’s fourth-seeded Axel Geller in the round of 16.
Sven Lah opened up the day with a 6-2, 6-2 loss to Stanford’s Sameer Kumar in the main draw round of 32, and then he fell 6-4, 6-2 to Stanford’s Genender in the consolation round of 16.
Finally, Akos Kotorman suffered a 6-1, 1-6, 6-0 loss to sixth-seeded Keegan Smith of UCLA in the opening round. In the consolation draw, he fell 6-3, 7-5 to UCLA’s eighth-seeded Maxime Cressy in the final match of the day.
WHAT’S NEXT
The Bears are back in action tomorrow and will open the doubles draw round of 16 at 12:15 p.m. CT. Fourth-seeded Schretter and Smith will team up against UCLA’s Hance and Connor Rapp. Bendeck and Frantzen will pair together to face UCLA’s Pereira and Cressy.
Meanwhile, Lah and Little team up to battle Stanford’s Tom Fawcett and Timothy Sah. BU's final pairing of Petersen and Kotorman will partner to face USC’s Henry Ji and Jens Sweaney.
In singles play, the quarterfinals will be played on Saturday, followed by the semifinals on Sunday and final on Monday. Third-seeded Bjoern Petersen faces UCLA’s sixth-seeded Keegan Smith while Jimmy Bendeck matches up against Stanford’s Eric Fomba.
In the consolation quarterfinals, top-seeded Johannes Schretter faces UCLA’s Connor Hance. All singles matches will begin at approximately 1 p.m. CT.
