Tulsa's Dominic Bechard Advances to Second Round of Qualifiers at Saint Francis ITA All American
10/3/2016 7:21:00 PM | Men's Tennis
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.
Players Mentioned
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/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
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