NASHVILLE, Tenn. – It was a very exciting Saturday at Vanderbilt’s Currey Tennis Center as tournament play continues at the USTA/ITA Ohio Valley Regional Championships. The Commodore’s Gonzales Austin competes tomorrow around 10:30 a.m. CT for the singles title as well as a spot in the 2014 National Indoor Championships.
“I thought it was another good day for us”, said head coach Ian Duvenhage. “It was a shame that we had to play ourselves in a couple of matches, but AJ (Austin) obviously played two really good matches. The quality of tennis between him and Danny (Valent) was really high. We’ve got one player in the final and our doubles team will play in the semifinals tomorrow. We’ve had a good tournament so far, and we’d like to finish it in the same fashion.”
Saturday morning kicked off with No. 9 Gonzales Austin defeating fellow Commodore and doubles partner, No. 90 Rhys Johnson; 6-1, 6-1. Two freshmen squared off on the next court over, as Daniel Valent advanced to the semifinals after defeating Memphis’ Ryan Peniston; 7-6(2), 6-3.
With both Commodores on the same side of the bracket, Valent and Austin squared off in a thrilling semifinals match. Austin took both sets, 6-4, 6-4, but not without an enormous effort from Valent; a freshman from Zurich, Switzerland.
In the doubles department, after a head to head singles match, Johnson and Austin paired up to take on Louisville’s duo of Gornet and Lippens. The `Dores advanced to semifinals off an 8-6 victory and take on Tennessee Tech’s Arovin/Esteban. The Tennessee Tech tandem took down the No. 5 seed out of Tennessee in the first round of doubles main draw.
Sunday’s doubles semifinal and singles consolation semifinals begins at 9:00 a.m. Main draw singles final will begin around 10:30. The Ohio Valley Regional doubles final should begin around noon inside the Currey Tennis Complex
