Vols, VFLs Complete Opening Round at Knoxville Challenger

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- This week's Knoxville Challenger has several ties to the Tennessee men's tennis program, with two current Vols and three former players competing in the main draws of singles and doubles at the USTA Pro Circuit event, hosted by UT's Goodfriend Tennis Center.

VFL Tennys Sandgren (Gallatin, Tenn.) highlighted Tennessee-related performances in the opening rounds with victories in singles and doubles alongside former Tennessee Vol and NCAA Champion Hunter Reese (Kennesaw, Ga.). Additionally, current senior co-captains Timo Stodder (Berlin, Germany) and Preston Touliatos (Birmingham, Ala.) picked up their fifth-straight doubles win as a professional pairing.

Sandgren - the tournament's top seed and No. 61 player in the world - opened up with a decisive 6-3, 6-0 victory over world No. 163 Henri Laaksonen of GlattPark, Switzerland in main draw singles action.

Sandgren has partnered with Reese, who won the Knoxville Challenger double titles in 2014 alongside VFL Mikelis Libietis. The pair forced a 10-point tiebreaker set and won their first match as a doubles duo by a score of 3-6, 6-3, 10-8 over Jason Jung/Sem Verbeek.

Coming off a 4-0 run through the Birmingham F29 Futures tournament last week, Stodder and Touliatos kept up their winning ways with a 7-6(0), 6-4 victory Wednesday night over the American duo of Christopher Eubanks/Mitchell Krueger. Eubanks was a two-time ACC Player of the Year at Georgia Tech, while Krueger went pro right out of high school. Both have been ranked in the ATP top-200 in their young professional careers.

A full breakdown of Tennessee's first-round results at the Challenger can be viewed below. The tournament main draw continues through Sunday, Nov. 11 at the Goodfriend Tennis Center, where daily passes cost $20 per day. Kids 12 and under receive free admission to the event.

For the most up-to-date information on Tennessee tennis, follow @Vol_Tennis on Twitter.

Knoxville Challenger
Singles - First Round
[1] [WC] Tennys Sandgren def. Henri Laaksonen, 6-3, 6-0
[6] Jason Jung def. [WC] Timo Stodder, 6-1, 6-3
Evgeny Karlovskiy def. Preston Touliatos, 6-3, 6-2
[5] Tim Smyczek def. John-Patrick Smith, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2

Doubles - First Round
[WC] Timo Stodder/Preston Touliatos def. [WC] Christopher Eubanks/Mitchell Krueger, 7-6(0), 6-4
Hunter Reese/Tennys Sandgren def. Jason Jung/Sem Verbeek, 3-6, 6-3, 10-8
Ruben Gonzales/Nathaniel Lammons def. [3] Matt Reid/John-Patrick Smith, 6-3, 3-6, 10-5

University of Tennessee Athletics

Vols, VFLs Complete Opening Round at Knoxville Challenger

Players Mentioned

Timo Stodder

Preston Touliatos

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