University of Virginia Team Page
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - Four members of the Virginia men's tennis team are in action this week in the qualifying draw of Knoxville Challenger, a $50K event on the USTA Pro Circuit. Junior Mitchell Frank (Annandale, Va.) and Ryan Shane (Falls Church, Va.) were victorious on Sunday, the first day of play, with Frank winning the next two days as well to qualify for the main draw. He followed up the strong qualifying performance by winning his first round main draw match.
In the first round of the main draw on Wednesday, Frank topped Tennessee's Jarryd Chaplin 6-4, 6-3. He will play Rik de Voest of South Africa in the second round.
In qualifying, Frank downed the No. 4 seed, world No. 506 Prajnesh Gunneswaran of India in the first round Sunday, rallying for a 4-6, 6-3, 6-3. On Monday, he downed Mico Santiago, 7-5, 2-6, 6-2 to reach the final round of qualifying. In the final round, he downed former Kentucky All-American Eric Quigley, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.
Shane topped Sean Karl, 7-5, 6-1, in his first round match. He suffered a straight-set loss to former Illinois All-American, eighth-seeded Dennis Novolo, in the second round. Novolo had edged Cavalier first-year J.C. Aragone (Yorba Linda, Calif.) 7-5, 6-3 in the first round. Also falling in the first round was first-year Jordan Daigle (Lafayette, La.), who dropped a three-set match to Joshua Milton of Great Britain.
Also advancing to the main draw with three qualifying wins was the top seed, Virginia alumnus Sanam Singh (Class of 2011). Singh also won his first round match in the main draw.
