Fairfield, October 10, 2024: Under a cloudless blue sky, with temperatures comfortably in the low to mid-80s, the lineup for singles quarterfinals and doubles semifinals were settled Thursday at the Taube/Kennedy-Grossman Solano Challenger men’s profession tennis tournament at Solano Community College.
In the opening match of the day, Americans Ethan Quinn (235) and Rudy Quan (797) battled it out for a place in the quarterfinals with Quinn topping Quan 6-3,2-6,6-2.
“It felt really nice. The weather was beautiful, not too much wind, perfect tennis conditions,” Quinn said afterward. “I was feeling the ball really great the first set.”
He struggled in the second set, though, as Quan fought back. “He did a really good job of making me uncomfortable in the second set, increasing the velocity that he was hitting the ball and making it a little be tough on me to find my footing,” Quinn said. “But I was able to kind of regroup after that and then compete well in the third set and just do what I cam in the first set doing.”
One court over from Quinn’s match, Australian Tristan Schoolkate topped Alexey Zakharov in two sets 6-3, 6-4, to secure his spot in the quarterfinals.
“I’m happy to get through today,” he said after the match. “He (Zakharov) is a tough player. It’s never easy and it’s been a long year of tours so I’m just happy to be still giving it a great mental effort.”
Schoolkate competed in Tiburon last week, losing in the second round of the singles tournament but he and fellow Austrian Luke Saville went on to win the Tiburon doubles finals.
He credited his strong play to his serve. “It’s a big weapon of mine so if I am serving well, I’m usually playing well,” he said. “So long as I keep continuing to do that, I fancy my chances.”
Others on Thursday who secured their place in the quarterfinals (which will be held Friday) include: Dmitry Popko (KAZ), who defeated Ryan Seggerman (USA) 7-5, 6-1; and in a come-from-behind win, Brandon Holt, who defeated Eliot Spizziri, 7-5, 7-5.
In doubles action on Thursday, four teams secured their spots in the semifinals:
Gonzalo Oliveira (VEN) / Kelsey Stevenson (CAN) defeated Marcus Daniell (NZL) / Hans Hach Verdugo (MEX) 6-3, 6-4; Gabi Adrian Boitan (ROU) / Bruno Kuzuhara (USA) defeated Kiranipal Pannu (NZL) / Keegan Smith (USA) 2-6, 6-4, 12-10; Trey Hilderbrand (USA) / Alex Lawson (USA) defeated Zachary Fuchs (USA) / Wally Thayne (USA) 6-1, 6-1; and Ryan Seggerman (USA) / Patrik Trhac (USA) defeated Dmitry Popko (KAZ) / Alexy Zakharov.1-6, 7-6(5), 10-5.
Order of play on Friday will be:
TAD TAUBE COURT (start 10 a.m.)
Gonzalo Oliveira (VEN) / Kelsey Stevenson (CAN) vs G. Boitan (ROU) / B. Kuzuhara (USA) followed by (not before noon) Learner Tien (USA) vs. Patrick Kypson (USA); Dmitry Popko (KAZ) vs. Brandon Holt (USA) and then Bernard Tomic (AUS) vs. Alexis Galarneau (CAN)
EVE ZIMMERMAN COURT (start 11 a.m.)
Ryan Seggerman (USA) / Patrik Trhac (USA) vs Trey Hilderbrand (USA) / Alex Lawson (USA) followed by Ethan Quinn (USA) vs. Tristan Schoolkate (AUS).
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