TCU
Austin USTA Pro Circuit
TCU Features Five at Austin USTA Pro Circuit Event
10/12/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Oct. 12, 2009
AUSTIN, Texas—Five members of the TCU men's tennis team competed Monday in the qualifying draw at the 10sPortal.com Classic, a USTA Pro Circuit Event at the Polo Tennis and Fitness Club.
Three Frogs, freshman Marius-Adrian Cirstea and juniors Emanuel Brighiu and Zach Nichols, advanced to the draw's final round before falling out of the competition, while sophomore Slah Mbarek reached Round 2. Cirstea was the bracket's No. 3 overall seed, while Mbarek and Brighiu were seeded Nos. 9 and 12, respectively.
Junior Chris Price also competed in the tournament, but was eliminated in Round 1 by his own TCU teammate in Nichols.
Cirstea received a first-round bye as the No. 3 seed. He opened competition with a second-round victory over Mexico's Alexander Wieland-Castillo, 6-4, 6-3. Cirstea fell in his final match to Ilie Babinciuc for the right to advance to the tournament's main draw, 6-2, 6-1.
Nichols faced a challenging player in his final-round match against No. 2 seed Sinisa Markovic, who eliminated the Frog junior by a 6-4, 6-2 score. Nichols reached the final with a 6-1, 6-1 decision over Price in Round 1, followed by a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Jan Plewinski in Roound 2.
Like Nichols, Brighiu also earned a pair of straight-set victories prior to his setback in the final. He first took down Christopher Minihan in Round 1, 6-1, 6-0, then dispatched Douglas Pierson Hoshaw in the following round, 6-1, 6-3. Fifth-seeded Ruben Gonzales eliminated Brighiu from the bracket, 6-0, 6-4.
Mbarek opened his day of action with a 6-1, 6-3 win over Phillip Michaels before suffering a 6-3, 5-7, 7-5 loss to Germany's Till Heilshorn.
Despite each of TCU's five entries suffering elimination in the qualifying draw, the players who reached finals matches still have the possibility of being selected for the main draw as alternates, which will be announced Tuesday.
Complete draws and results from the 10sPortal.com Classic can be found by visiting the link at the top of this page.
Results
10sPortal.com Classic
Oct. 12, 2009
Austin, Texas (Polo Tennis and Fitness Club)
MEN'S QUALIFYING SINGLES
Round 1
Zach Nichols (TCU) def. Chris Price (TCU), 6-1 6-1
(9) Slah Mbarek (TCU) def. Phillip Michaels (USA), 6-1, 6-3
(12) Emanuel Brighiu (TCU) def. Christopher Minihan (USA), 6-1, 6-0
Round 2
Zach Nichols (TCU) def. Jan Plewinski (POL), 6-2, 6-3
(12) Emanuel Brighiu (TCU) def. Douglas Pierson Hoshaw (USA), 6-1, 6-3
Till Heilshorn (GER) def. (9) Slah Mbarek (TCU), 6-3, 5-7, 7-5
(3) Marius Cirstea (TCU) def. Alexander Wieland-Castillo (MEX), 6-4, 6-3
Round 3
Ilie Babinciuc (MDA) def. (3) Marius Cirstea (TCU), 6-2, 6-1
(2) Sinisa Markovic (BIH) def. Zach Nichols (TCU), 6-4, 6-2
(5) Ruben Gonzales (USA) def. (12) Emanuel Brighiu (TCU), 6-0, 6-4
Players Mentioned
