FLUSHING MEADOWS, N.Y. – It was another excellent day for Vanderbilt at the USTA/ITA Indoor Intercollegiate Championships in Flushing, NY. Gonzales Austin remains in contention for the singles title as he advances to tournament semifinals. Doubles partner Rhys Johnson joins the senior later in the day on Saturday, as the No. 22 tandem compete in doubles semifinals.
After knocking off the No. 1 player in the country on Friday, Gonzales Austin carried over his momentum into Saturday’s tournament action. In his first match of the day, Austin defeated an SEC opponent in UGA’s No. 12 Austin Smith after dropping the first set; 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.
“AJ (Austin) did a great job in the first match against Georgia’s Austin Smith,” said head coach Ian Duvenhage. “He (Austin) lost the first set and actually went down a break in the second set, and methodically worked his way back into the match. He played really well at the end of the match…I also thought Smith played very well. So I felt that it was a good win.”
The victory propelled the Miami, Fla. native into quarterfinals where he squared off against UNC’s No. 23 player, Ronnie Schneider. For the second time of the day, Austin was defeated in the first set, but used the loss as motivation clinching the victory in a hard fought; 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 match.
“In the second match, we once again lost the first set and went to work. By the end of the third set he played unbelievably well. AJ really finished the match playing extremely well and I was happy to see that”
But Austin’s day wasn’t over as he and Rhys Johnson took on Denver’s No. 18 pairing of Henry Craig and Alex Gasson. History repeated itself for the third time, as the Commodores dropped the first set and battled back for the win in an 4-6, 6-2, 1-0(5) victory. Austin is the sole player left in national competition with the opportunity to take both the singles and doubles trophies home.
“In doubles, we lost the first set again, but we broke the Denver opponents twice in the second set and played a really good match tiebreaker to win. So we’ve got a player in the semis in singles and a team in the semis in doubles, and the game plan is to just keep it rolling.”
Austin takes the court at 10:30 a.m. ET against Virginia’s Ryan Shane. Interestingly enough, all semifinalists are unseeded contenders. Five of eight seeds were eliminated in the first day of competition.
Johnson and Austin take on the No. 1 seeded Yannick Hanfmann and Roberto Quiroz out of Southern Cal Saturday afternoon at 1:30 p.m. The two duos competed previously this fall at All-Americans in Tulsa, Okla. The `Dores are looking to even the record tomorrow as the No. 19 Trojans came out on top in their first meeting with a 6-2, 6-2 win. Both teams are the last seeds left in tournament action.
All matches continue at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Complex. For tournament updates follow @ITATennis or @VandyMensTennis.
