Tulsa's Dominic Bechard Advances to Second Round of Qualifiers at Saint Francis ITA All American

TULSA, Okla. – The University of Tulsa Men's Tennis player Dominic Bechard advanced to the second day of qualifiers at the Saint Francis Health System ITA Men's All American with a furious second-set rally, defeating Louisiana State's top-seeded qualifier and No. 49 nationally ranked Justin Butsch 7-6 (5), 7-5.

Bechard and Butsch both held serve in the first set to reach the eventual tiebreak that saw Bechard jump out to a 6-2 lead before taking the set on a forehand winner down the right sideline after Butsch crashed the net in an opening set win. The sophomore got off to a slow start in the second set, falling behind to Butsch 5-0. Bechard responded by breaking serve on the next three Butsch service games and held steady on his serve to win the next seven games and complete the comeback, 7-5.

Francois Kellerman opened his match against Tennessee Tech's Eduardo Mena with a chance to break serve earlier in the first game, but fell just short before breaking serve in the third game to go ahead 2-1 in the set on his way to taking a 3-1 lead. After Mena broke serve in the sixth game, Kellerman rallied from down 0-30 during his next service game to keep the match square at 4-4. Kellerman fought off four set points to bring the match to a 5-5 tie, eventually reaching the tiebreaker in which the sophomore eventually fell, 7-6 (5). Kellerman would fall in the next set to Mena, 6-0.

Freshman Jarod Hing took on Alex Cozbinov of UNLV in his lone match of the day, dropping the match in straight sets 6-1, 6-1.

Chase Gordon rallied from down 3-0 in the third set yesterday evening in his pre-qualifying consolation match against Texas' William Jou, taking the match 6-4, 5-7, 6-4.

Doubles qualifiers began for Tulsa in the afternoon as Or Ram-Harel and Majed Kilani took on Gergely Madarasz and Ricardo Medinilla of Purdue. Ram-Harel and Kilani battled throughout, but fell to the Purdue due 7-5, 7-5. Okkie Kellerman and Daniel Santos followed with a match against Texas A&M's Aleksandre Bahski and Hady Habib, but dropped the match in straight sets 6-2, 6-0.

Singles and doubles qualifying play will continue at the Saint Francis Health System ITA Men's All American Championship tomorrow prior to taking a day off before main draw play begins on Thursday, Oct. 6.

The pre-qualifying stages can be viewed on Streaming Tennis, while live stats will begin on Tuesday, Oct. 4. The main draw will be streamed by FloTennis.

Tulsa's Dominic Bechard Advances to Second Round of Qualifiers at Saint Francis ITA All American

Players Mentioned

Dominic Bechard

Chase Gordon

Jarod Hing

Francois Kellerman

Okkie Kellerman

Majed Kilani

Or Ram-Harel

Daniel Santos

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