NEW YORK – Vanderbilt junior Gonzales Austin overcame a slow start in his first round match at the USTA/ITA National Indoor Championships, and defeated Henry Craig of Denver in three sets. Austin will face No. 87 Joran Vliegen in the round of 16 at 11 a.m., on Friday.
“I though AJ [Austin] played a good match,” said head coach Ian Duvenhage. “I think he started slow, but credit the Denver player [Craig], he capitalized on AJ’s mistakes. As the match went on AJ started playing better. He served very well in the second and third sets, and I thought he made some good adjustments as the match went on.”
After both players won on their opening serves, but Craig was able to control the remainder of the opening set, winning 6-3.
The second and third sets were a different story. Austin jumped out 4-2 in the second set, befogging taking it 6-3. In the third and final set, the Miami native, got out to a 4-1 lead before breaking Craig’s serve for the match point.
“”AJ started using the backhand slice in the second and third sets, which I feel really helped him,” said Duvenhage. “He picked up his second break in the third set for match point. That was an encouraging sign, in the past AJ would be complacent and try to win sets 7-5, today he was much more aggressive and it paid off for him in those last two sets.”
Austin will face East Carolina’s Vliegen, who picked up the upset win over No. 44 Dane Webb of Oklahoma on Thursday.
Thursday Results
Singles – Round of 32
Gonzales Austin def. Henry Craig (Denver): 3-6, 6-3, 6-3
