Mens Tennis to Play at USTA Clay Court Invite
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – The University of Miami men’s tennis team will travel to Orlando, Fla., to compete in the USTA Clay Court Invitational presented by Visit Florida, which will be held at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Walt Disney World. Hosted by Florida State, the event will be held from Oct. 30 to Nov. 2.
First round action will be played at nearby Grand Cypress Golf Resort and Isleworth Golf and Country Club, with the subsequent rounds being played at Disney.
A total of seven Canes will be participating in both singles and doubles play in the tournament, including seniors Henrique Tsukamoto and Wilfredo Gonzalez, sophomore Bernard Tefel, and four freshmen, Kevin Bondar, Andrew Harrington, Nile Clark, and Christian Langmo.
The Hurricanes will face a great deal of competition, as Miami will be one of 14 schools who have players in the main draw or qualifying draw. Opponents include: Auburn, Clemson, Columbia, Florida, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Penn State, Princeton, South Alabama, Southern California (USC), Stetson, UCF and Virginia Tech.
Play begins with the qualifying singles at 9:30 a.m. on Thursday, Oct. 30 at the Grand Cypress, as players have to win one match on Thursday to qualify for the main draw. Two Canes freshman will be put to the test with Bondar playing his collegiate debut against Graham Ball from Stetson and fellow freshman Harrington facing Tyler Pate from UCF.
Main draw singles action will begin on the same day at 10 a.m. at Grand Cypress with No. 9-16 seed Tsukamoto taking on Tanner Smith from USC. At 11:30 a.m. freshman Langmo will face off against Alejandro Bueno from Clemson. Later at 12 p.m. senior Gonzalez will take on Francesc Aulina from UCF. The play will transition to Isleworth, with freshman Clark facing Nicolo de Fraia from UCF at 12:30 and lone sophomore Tefel goes against Richard Pham from Columbia at 1 p.m.
The Canes will also be teaming up to play doubles at Grand Cypress early on Thursday, starting at 8 a.m., with Tsukamoto and Clark looking to qualify for the doubles main draw will face Laurynas Antropikas and Simon Julin from Stetson. Also at 8 a.m., Gonzalez and Langmo will face the Joseph van Dooren and Petar Tomic team from Auburn. At 9 a.m., the duo of Tefel and Harrington will then face Marko Krikovic and Max Hinnisdaels from Auburn.
The USTA Clay Court Invitational is the largest clay court event in college tennis, featuring many of the country’s top college teams and players – will be delivered live on ESPN3 and the WatchESPN app this week. The Invitational is being delivered by ESPN3 for the second consecutive year, and will be accessible on computers, smartphones, tablets, Xbox, Apple TV and Roku devices.
Stay up to date with the Canes this weekend at @2014_CCI and follow the #LoveFL on Twittter. Always follow the Canes on HurricaneSports.com. To interact with the UM men’s tennis team socially, follow @CanesMensTennis on Twitter and like the team on Facebook.com/CanesMensTennis.
Schedule of Play
Thursday
Qualifying Singles
9:30 a.m. Kevin Bondar (UM) vs. Graham Ball (SU)
9:30 a.m. Andrew Harrington (UM) vs. Tyler Pate (UCF)
Main Draw Singles
10 a.m. No. 9-16 Henrique Tsukamoto (UM) vs. Tanner Smith (USC)
11:30 a.m. Christian Langmo (UM) vs. Alejandro Bueno (CU)
12 p.m. Wilfredo Gonzalez (UM) vs. Francesc Aulina (UCF)
12:30 p.m. Nile Clark (UM) vs. Nicolo de Fraia (UCF)
1 p.m. Bernard Tefel (UM) vs. Ricahrd Pham (CU)
Qualifying Doubles
8 a.m. Clark/Tsukamoto (UM) vs. Antropikas/Julin (SU)
Main Draw Doubles
8 a.m. Gonzalez/Langmo (UM) vs. van Dooren/Tomic (AU)
9 a.m. Tefel/Harrington (UM) vs. Krikovic/Hinnisdaels (AU)
