University of Tennessee Athletics
Current, Former Vols Set for Knoxville Challenger
November 07, 2017 | Men's Tennis
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Three current Vols and three former UT tennis standouts are competing this week in the annual Knoxville Challenger.
The state's now-largest tennis tournament opens main draw play Tuesday night at Goodfriend Tennis Center. Senior Luis Valero is set to play Great Britain's Liam Broady in the featured night match, not before 5:30 p.m.
Junior Timo Stodder also received a wild card entry to the main draw of singles and will start the tournament against second-seeded Henri Laaksonen of Switzerland on Wednesday night. Stodder and junior Preston Touliatos will play doubles together, and Valero is teaming up with former Ole Miss All-American Nik Scholtz.
Three Vols on tour have returned to campus in a bid to collect key ATP World Tour ranking points before the close of the season.
Tennys Sandgren (2010-11) is the tournament's No. 1 seed and enters the week ranked a career-best No. 85 in the rankings after his finals appearance in last week's Charlottesville Challenger. He will face fellow Vol on tour John-Patrick Smith (2008-11) in the opening round Wednesday not before 5:30 p.m.
Jarryd Chaplin (2011-14) is wrapping up his best year on the doubles tour and is teaming up with American Mitchell Krueger.
For a closer look at the former Vols in the tournament field:
Tennys Sandgren - A native of Gallatin, Tennessee, Sandgren was an All-American and NCAA singles semifinalist before starting his professional career in 2011. He is up to a career-best No. 85 in the world rankings following his final appearance at Charlottesville last week. He has won two Challenger titles (Tempe and Savannah) and reached the finals of three others this year. He made his Grand Slam debuts at the French Open and the US Open, notably taking a set off former champion Marin Cilic in New York. In June, Sandgren became the sixth Vol in Tennessee history to crack the top 100 in singles. He won his first ATP Tour-level match when he played his way into the third round of the Citi Open this summer in Washington, D.C.
John-Patrick Smith - A native of Townsville, Australia, Smith has put together his best season in doubles while maintaining a top-250 singles ranking. On the U.S. hard courts, he qualified at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati and the US Open. In doubles, he reached the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open — his best Grand Slam result to date — and made the finals of the Hall of Fame Open in Newport, R.I. He reached a career-best No. 52 in the ATP doubles rankings in September and enters the week at No. 66. Smith's college career needs little introduction in Knoxville; he is the second eight-time All-American in college tennis history and held the No. 1 ranking in singles and doubles. He was voted the 2011 SEC Athlete of the Year across all sports.
Jarryd Chaplin - A native of Sydney, Australia, Chaplin is wrapping up his best year in doubles, entering the week ranked No. 161. He has reached three Challenger finals this year, including last week in Charlottesville, and achieved a career-best ranking of No. 155 in May. He had been rolling through the last U.S. hard court events with former Tennessee teammate and collegiate No. 1 Mikelis Libietis. Unfortunately, Libietis ruptured his Achilles tendon in the Charlottesville final.
The state's now-largest tennis tournament opens main draw play Tuesday night at Goodfriend Tennis Center. Senior Luis Valero is set to play Great Britain's Liam Broady in the featured night match, not before 5:30 p.m.
Junior Timo Stodder also received a wild card entry to the main draw of singles and will start the tournament against second-seeded Henri Laaksonen of Switzerland on Wednesday night. Stodder and junior Preston Touliatos will play doubles together, and Valero is teaming up with former Ole Miss All-American Nik Scholtz.
Three Vols on tour have returned to campus in a bid to collect key ATP World Tour ranking points before the close of the season.
Tennys Sandgren (2010-11) is the tournament's No. 1 seed and enters the week ranked a career-best No. 85 in the rankings after his finals appearance in last week's Charlottesville Challenger. He will face fellow Vol on tour John-Patrick Smith (2008-11) in the opening round Wednesday not before 5:30 p.m.
Jarryd Chaplin (2011-14) is wrapping up his best year on the doubles tour and is teaming up with American Mitchell Krueger.
For a closer look at the former Vols in the tournament field:
Tennys Sandgren - A native of Gallatin, Tennessee, Sandgren was an All-American and NCAA singles semifinalist before starting his professional career in 2011. He is up to a career-best No. 85 in the world rankings following his final appearance at Charlottesville last week. He has won two Challenger titles (Tempe and Savannah) and reached the finals of three others this year. He made his Grand Slam debuts at the French Open and the US Open, notably taking a set off former champion Marin Cilic in New York. In June, Sandgren became the sixth Vol in Tennessee history to crack the top 100 in singles. He won his first ATP Tour-level match when he played his way into the third round of the Citi Open this summer in Washington, D.C.
John-Patrick Smith - A native of Townsville, Australia, Smith has put together his best season in doubles while maintaining a top-250 singles ranking. On the U.S. hard courts, he qualified at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati and the US Open. In doubles, he reached the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open — his best Grand Slam result to date — and made the finals of the Hall of Fame Open in Newport, R.I. He reached a career-best No. 52 in the ATP doubles rankings in September and enters the week at No. 66. Smith's college career needs little introduction in Knoxville; he is the second eight-time All-American in college tennis history and held the No. 1 ranking in singles and doubles. He was voted the 2011 SEC Athlete of the Year across all sports.
Jarryd Chaplin - A native of Sydney, Australia, Chaplin is wrapping up his best year in doubles, entering the week ranked No. 161. He has reached three Challenger finals this year, including last week in Charlottesville, and achieved a career-best ranking of No. 155 in May. He had been rolling through the last U.S. hard court events with former Tennessee teammate and collegiate No. 1 Mikelis Libietis. Unfortunately, Libietis ruptured his Achilles tendon in the Charlottesville final.
Players Mentioned
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