University of Minnesota Athletics
University of Minnesota
ITA Central Region Championships
Five Gophers Reach Singles Round of 16
10/11/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Main Draw Singles | Main Draw Doubles | Tournament Hub
NORMAN, Okla. - Five University of Minnesota men's tennis players reached the main draw's round of 16 in singles at the ITA Central Region Championships in Norman, Okla. Saturday. After qualifying draw singles and four rounds of main-draw doubles were played over the first two days of the event, two rounds of the 64-player main draw were completed Saturday.
The main draw began Saturday with eight Golden Gophers after Eric Frueh and Tucker Saxon made it through the qualifying draw to join teammates Leandro Toledo, Jack Hamburg, Felix Corwin, Ruben Weber, Mathieu Froment, and Matic ?pec. Toledo, Hamburg, Corwin, Froment, and ?pec each won twice Saturday to move on to the third round. Weber won his first match of the day--also his 2014-15 debut--before falling to 82nd-ranked Arjun Kadhe of Oklahoma State in three sets.
In two straight-set wins against opponents from Western Illinois and Tulsa, third-seeded and 22nd-ranked Toledo lost only seven games. He will play against Nick Papac of host Oklahoma in the next round. Fellow senior and No. 13 seed Hamburg also won both of his matches in straight sets, defeating Iowa's Jake Jacoby and Tomislav Gregurovic of Wichita State. His next match will come against No. 64-ranked Dusty Boyer of Nebraska.
Froment cruised to a 6-1, 6-1 win in his first match before upsetting No. 55-ranked and fifth-seeded Jakob Sude of Oklahoma State in three sets in the second round. Three of Froment's four matches on the season have come against ranked foes. His round-of-16 match will see him take on Matthew Kirby of Tulsa.
Both of Minnesota's freshmen continued strong starts to their careers in Maroon and Gold. Corwin, the tournament's 14th seed, took down Dylan McCloskey of Tulsa and Vasilis Stavaropolous of Nebraska in consecutive sets to up his record to 6-0. ?pec improved to 5-1 on the season with victories against Johan Den Toom of Arkansas and Tulsa's seventh-seeded Or Ram Harel.
Corwin will play No. 16-ranked Dane Webb of Oklahoma in the next round, while ?pec's next opponent will be Ben Lott of Drake, the draw's 12th seed.
In doubles, No. 11-ranked pairing Hamburg and Froment and sixth-seeded tandem Toledo and Corwin will play in the semifinal round Sunday after winning twice apiece Friday.
Following Central Region Championship play for the Gophers will be the Big Ten Indoor Championships Oct. 31-Nov. 2 at the Baseline Tennis Center.
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