TULSA, Okla. – Gonzales Austin has the kept the Vanderbilt alive in the 2013 Saint Francis ITA All-American Championships with his third round win over Amerigo Contini. The bid into the quarterfinals guarantees the junior a spot at the USTA/ITA National Indoor Championships in early November.
“AJ [Austin] played at an extremely high level today,” said VU assistant coach Jamie Hunt. “He won a well earned and hard fought victory over a tough opponent.”
Austin had his toughest match of this tournament, going all three sets with the No. 43 singles play from Virginia Tech.
The junior jumped out to an early 5-2 lead in the first set, however, Contini battled back into the match taking the next three games before Austin put it away, 7-5. Contini was able to take the second set 6-3, but Austin was able to seal the match, winning the third set 6-4.
“AJ has been playing great all weekend,” said Hunt. “Everything Coach Duvenhage and I have identified as areas of improvement, AJ’s worked on and it has definitely payed off so far.”
The win pits the Miami native against Austin Smith of Georgia, who swept through the qualifying singles before winning his first two main draw matches.
The doubles team of Ryan Lipman and Austin was bounced out of the tournament, Friday with a 8-5 loss to Florida’s Orkin and Watson.
Austin will play his quarterfinal match at 9:30 a.m. Singles semifinals will begin at not before 1:00 p.m.
