TCU
ITA Regionals
Four Frogs Advance in Singles at ITA Texas Regional
10/24/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Oct. 24, 2009
COLLEGE STATION, Texas—Four members of the TCU men's tennis team advanced to the Round of 32 in singles play during Saturday's opening matches of the Wilson/ITA Texas Regional Championships at Texas A&M's George P. Mitchell Tennis Center.
The top-4 seeded Horned Frogs each advanced with victories in the singles Round of 64 after receiving byes in the opening round of play.
All four Frogs won their opening matches in the Round of 64 in straight sets. Mbarek, ranked 55th nationally, downed UT Pan American's Brett Bernstein, 6-4, 6-2, while TCU's other ranked player, Brighiu (No. 68), dispatched SMU's Darren Walsh, 6-3, 7-6(1). Nichols and Cirstea joined the two rated Frogs in keeping their tournaments alive with respective victories over Texas' Rook Schellenberg (6-3, 6-4) and UTSA's Tyler Brown.
Brighiu, Nichols, Mbarek and Cirstea will continue competition in the Round of 32 when play picks back up Sunday. Brighiu, Mbarek and Nichols each will begin their days of singles by facing opponents from Rice in Michael Nusslein, Oscar Podlewski and Bruno Rosa, respectively, while Cirstea will play against Baylor's Attila Bucko.
TCU had four other players open play in the Round of 128, with three coming through with wins in straight sets. Paul Chappel defeated Lamar's Diego Snyder, 6-1, 6-4, Santiago Centeno downed Prairie View A&M's Craig Wiltz, 6-3, 6-4, and Cameron Nash breezed past Texas Tech's Jared Hope, 6-1, 6-3. Chris Price fell in three sets to Texas' Alex Hilliard, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2.
Chappell, Centeno and Nash each dropped out of the competition in the Round of 64.
In doubles, two Frog pairings advanced through the Round of 32 with victories that followed byes. Brighiu and Mbarek, the draw's No. 7 seed, withstood a challenge from Rice's Jonathan Chang and Isamu Tachibana during an 8-6 victory, while Nichols and Price easily dispatched the Texas A&M duo of Calon Alpar and Patrick Dean, 8-3.
"The guys played really well today," head coach Dave Borelli said. "I was pleased with all of our matches. It looks like all of the hard work the guys are putting in this fall is paying off. It's been a great ending to the fall season, but we still have some matches to play this weekend. We hope we can have another great showing tomorrow."
Complete draws and results from the Wilson/ITA Texas Regional Championships can be found by visiting the link at the top of this page.
Results
Wilson/ITA Texas Regional Championships
Oct. 24, 2009
College Station, Texas (George P. Mitchell Tennis Center)
MEN'S SINGLES
Round of 128
Paul Chappel (TCU) def. Diego Snyder (Lamar) 6-1, 6-4
Santiago Centeno (TCU) def. Craig Wiltz (Prairie View A&M) 6-3, 6-4
Cameron Nash (TCU) def. Jared Hope (Texas Tech) 6-1, 6-3
Alex Hilliard (Texas) def. Chris Price (TCU) 4-6, 6-1, 6-2
Round of 64
(17) Zach Nichols (TCU) def. Rook Schellenberg (Texas) 6-3, 6-4
(9) Emmanuel Brighiu (TCU) def. Darren Walsh (SMU) 6-3, 7-6(1)
(5) Slah Mbarek (TCU) def. Brett Bernstein (UT Pan Am) 6-4, 6-2
(17) Marius Cirstea (TCU) def. Tyler Brown (UTSA) 6-2, 7-6
(1) Dimitar Kutrovsky (Texas) def. Cameron Nash (TCU) 6-0, 6-2
(9) Gonzalo Escobar (Texas Tech) def. Paul Chappell (TCU) 6-1, 6-2
(9) Alexey Grigorov (Texas A&M) def. Santiago Centeno (TCU) 6-1, 6-3
Consolation Round 2
Christopher Price (TCU) def. Jose Garcia (Prairie View A&M) 6-0, 6-2
MEN'S DOUBLES
Round of 64
C. Camillone/J. Wiegand (Texas) def. S. Centeno/P. Chappell (TCU) 8-3
Round of 32
M. Nusslein/C. Saravia (Rice) def. M. Cirstea/C. Nash (TCU) 8-1
Z. Nichols/C. Price (TCU) def. C. Alpar/P. Dean (Texas A&M) 8-3
(7) E. Brighiu/S. Mbarek (TCU) def. J. Chang/I. Tachibana (Rice) 8-6
Players Mentioned
