University of Tennessee Athletics
Libietis, Reese Win Knoxville Challenger
November 09, 2014 | Men's Tennis
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Tennessee seniors Mikelis Libietis and Hunter Reese certainly backed up their college success this week with a doubles title on the ATP Challenger Tour.
In front of a packed home crowd at Goodfriend Tennis Center, Libietis and Reese once again played their composed and veteran doubles game. The nation's No. 1-ranked college team broke serve once in each set to defeat Gastao Elias and Sean Thornley 6-3, 6-4 to capture the title at the Knoxville Challenger.
Libietis and Reese have grown used to success -- they have won three national college doubles titles since their junior season -- but this was their first time playing together on the professional stage at the Knoxville Challenger, getting in via a tournament wild card.
While the Vol pair had never played in a professional doubles tournament before, they did have one thing on their side that many teams lack: experience together. Libietis and Reese have trained and played doubles together for four seasons, extremely rare for any college team.
In that time, Libietis and Reese have learned each other's games inside out. They've also learned to win together against all sorts of opponents. And those victories in critical moments have started to add up, including the NCAA title in May and their second consecutive ITA All-American Championship in October.
"We know how to win," Reese said. "We know what each other is good at. Our chemistry is so good on the court, we know where we're going to be at all times. That's so vital. We've been coached really well."
The final match was no different.
Libietis and Reese did not face a singles break point in the semifinals and just three in the finals. Reese had a deciding point on his racquet in the second set and saved it with a second-serve winner to put the Vols ahead 5-3.
The only lost their service game twice during the entire tournament and lost just one set.
"We've been playing on our serves extremely well," Libietis said. "We were executing very well. Same as in college in the NCAAs and All-Americans. We're holding serve and that gives us confidence for the breaks. We can go for it on the returns because we know we're going to hold."
The crowd was nearly on its feet and cheering when Libietis stepped back to serve out the match at 5-4. Once the applause quieted, Libietis unleashed four spring-loaded first serves, three of them for winners and one that came back to Reese, who deftly put it away on the second shot.
As they end every college match, Libietis and Reese embraced near the service line before shaking their opponents' hands.
With the tournament victory, both Vols will be ranked in the low 600s in the ATP World Tour doubles rankings. Libietis entered the week unranked because he spent the summer recovering from injury and did not play any tournaments. Reese was ranked No. 1,625, having played a few smaller events this summer.
Libietis and Reese are the first current collegiate team to win the Knoxville Challenger and the only college duo to win a Challenger Tour title this year.
John-Patrick Smith is the only touring Vol to have won a title in Knoxville. Smith, an eight-time All-American from 2008-11, won the 2013 doubles title with fellow Aussie Sam Groth.
ON ESPN
Reese's backhand around-the-post winner during the Knoxville Challenger semifinals quickly made the rounds on the internet Saturday. In the midst of college football highlights, his play aired nationally at No. 5 on ESPN's SportsCenter top plays.
"It was pretty amazing," Reese said. "I saw something last night about it. It was 12:30 at night. I was trying to go to bed. I rolled over to go back to sleep, but I couldn't go back to sleep. I turned the TV on and had to wait another 30 minutes until the top of the hour. I saw it, and that was pretty cool."
