Buckeyes Sweep Singles and Doubles Title at ITF $25K in Columbus
11/17/2024 9:20:00 PM | Men's Tennis
COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Ty Tucker Tennis Center played host to an ITF $25K event this past week and the Buckeyes held serve on their home courts. Aidan Kim won the singles title while Jack Anthrop and Bryce Nakashima won the doubles title.
This was Kim's first professional title. He started the week as the No. 5 seed in the singles draw and dropped just one set on his way to the title. He started with a win over former Buckeye Jake Van Emburgh and then topped current teammate Will Jansen in the quarterfinals. In the semis, he beat No. 2 seed Samir Banerjee 6-0, 4-6, 6-3 on Saturday and blew past Aristotelis Thanos 7-5, 6-1 in the championship match on Sunday. Since qualifying for the NCAA Championship at the ITA All-American Championship, Kim has played in three professional events, reaching the quarterfinals at the $25K in Louisville, the semifinals in Harlingen and winning this week in Columbus.
Anthrop and Nakashima opened with a three-set win over Poland’s Oskar Grzegorzewski and Piotr Pawlak and then a 6-2, 6-3 win in the second round over Hugo Coquelin and Danil Panarin. Their toughest match of the week came in the semifinals against teammates Kim and Nikita Filin. They won the opening set 6-3 but then lost 6-2 in the second. In the match-tiebreaker, they came back with a big run and pull out a 10-8 victory. Then in the championship match on Saturday, they rolled back Adam Jones and Jake Van Emburgh 6-3, 6-2.
Buckeyes made up half of the singles quarterfinalists as well as half of the doubles semifinals. In addition to Kim, Anthrop, Nakashima and Will Jansen all were singles quarterfinalists.
This event was the final tune-up before the NCAA Championship this upcoming week. Kim is the No. 8 seed in the singles draw while Nakashima and Jansen will also compete in the doubles draw.
#GoBucks
