Oct. 1, 2016
TULSA, Okla. – The Saint Francis Heath System ITA All-American Championships began Saturday morning for Vanderbilt men’s tennis’ Baker Newman. Competing in pre-qualifier rounds, the Miami native took his first match, but fell in a close three-setter in the round of 128.
Newman’s first appearance at the University of Tulsa’s Michael D. Case Tennis Center was against Georgia State’s Andrei Andrukhou. Taking the 4-1 lead in the first set, the Commodore allowed his opponent into the set to force a tiebreaker. Taking the breaker 7-6(6), Newman was back to battling against the junior from Minsk, Belarus. The Commodore clinched his spot in the round of 128 in the second set, pulling out the 7-6(6), 7-5 victory.
In his second competition of the day, the Commodore faced Texas’ Christian Sigsgaard. Like his first match, Newman was able to grind out the first set advantage, 6-4. However, the Longhorn used the loss as motivation to split sets with a 6-3 second set victory. With the VU junior taking the lead 3-2 in the third, Sigsgaared was able to win key points and the advantage. Newman fought hard and gained match experience, but fell in the final set; 4-6, 3-6, 4-6.
Daniel Valent will travel to Tulsa to begin main draw competition on Thursday, Oct. 6th. Tournament singles and doubles championships are scheduled to take place Oct. 10th.
