Emesz Wins Group D at PTT 25K Fayetteville

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The Arkansas men’s tennis team continued its fall season this week competing at the PTT 25K Fayetteville. Benni Emesz went 3-1 in group play to finish atop Group D and advance to the 1st place playoffs.

Group D was decided this afternoon as Emesz faced Karim Al-Amin while Connor Smillie had a bye after finishing 3-1 in group play. Emesz was 2-1 on the week while Al-Amin was unbeaten leading up to Thursday as Emesz overcame a first-set defeat to win the next two sets and take the match, 2-6, 6-1, 6-2. After falling in his first match, Smillie answered with three consecutive victories to complete the group stage. Due to tiebreakers, Emesz claimed the top spot in the group with Smillie coming in second.

Božo Barun excelled in Group A after going 3-1 and dropping only two sets in group play, the fewest among all players in the group. Barun fell in his opening match on Sunday but responded with three straight victories to close out the group stage in 2nd place. Arthur Bellegy ended group play with a 1-3 record and will take part in the 5th place playoffs tomorrow. Bellegy bested Yassine Dlimi on Wednesday to give Dlimi his only loss of the group stage.

Lukas Palovic had an impressive showing in his second appearance of the fall, recording a 3-1 mark in group play to qualify for the 2nd place playoffs. Like Barun, Palovic fell in his Round 1 match before rebounding to win the next three without dropping a set.

Brendan Boland continued his recent dominance this fall with a 3-1 performance in Group C. Boland entered Wednesday with a 3-0 record and a chance to win the group with a victory. However, Mehdi Benchakroun went on to win the match in straight sets to clinch the top spot in the group. Jakub Vrba qualified for the 3rd place playoffs after going 2-2 in Group C. Vrba picked up victories in his final two matches against Stefanos Savva and Alex Blanchar Salva.

For all information regarding the tournament, visit the tournament homepage to find draws, schedule of play and results. Fans are welcome to attend throughout the week with free admission and parking information can be found here. Matches will be streamed on Amazon Prime Video.