Hogs Fall in Qualifying Round at ITA Central Region Championships

TULSA, Okla. – Arkansas began competition at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s (ITA) Central Region Championships at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center on Thursday, but was unable to advance a trio of its players from the qualifying singles bracket to the main draw.

Sophomore Jimmy Khougassian won his play in match over St. Louis University’s Michael Limoges, 8-2. In thesecond round, he fellto Luka Marinkovic from Illinois State, 7-5, 6-3.

Redshirt freshman Brian Yanulis was also in a play in match, but was defeated by Chris Miller of Creighton, 8-5. In his backdraw match Yanulis lost to ISU’s Tim Link, 6-1, 6-4.

Junior Andrei Nicoara faced SLU’s Sean McManus in the round of 32 and posted a 6-4, 6-4 victory, before falling to Tulsa’s No. 4 seed Ross Cunningham, 6-1, 6-3.

Arkansas will look to rebound from today’s losses when six Razorbacks compete in the main draw on Friday. Matches will take place all day on the University of Tulsa campus and admission is free.

Seniors Rohan Gajjar, Matt Roberts and Adrians Zguns, sophomore Michael Jung and freshmen Blake Strode and Austin King will all take to the singles court in hopes of advancing to the next round. Roberts, the No. 6 seed, and Zguns, the No. 4 seed, will start the day off at 8:30 a.m. Roberts will play Drake’s Maor Zirkin and Zguns will play Eduardo Autran from UALR. King will take on Tulsa’s Federico Soriano at 10 a.m.

Three Hogs will begin competition at 11:30 a.m., including Gajjar who is the top-seeded player in the tournament. He will take on Wichita State’s Boris Gubic. Jung will go up against the No. 5 seed, Alexei Ivanov from Oklahoma, while Strode will play UALR’s Edson Abrao.

Qualifying Play-In Round – Jimmy Khougassian (Arkansas) def. Michael Limoges (Saint Louis), 8-2

Joe Eckert (Creighton) def. Augusto Alvarado (Wichita State), 8-5

Chris Miller (Creighton) def. Brian Yanulis (Arkansas), 8-5

Qualifying Round of 32 –

#2 Seed Djordje Uskokovic (Illinois State) def. Matt Gordon (Saint Louis), 6-0, 6-0

Rain Roigas (Arkansas-Little Rock) def. Sean Coetzee (Nebraska), 6-1, 6-0

Luka Marinkovic (Illinois State) def. Jimmy Khougassian (Arkansas), 7-5, 6-3

Juan Carols Nunez (Arkansas-Little Rock) def. Sergio Sanchez (Southern Illinois), 7-6 (5), 6-2

#4 Seed Ross Cunningham (Tulsa) def. Rudy Garza (Missouri State), 6-0, 6-3

Andrei Nicoara (Arkansas) def. Sean McManus (Saint Louis), 6-4, 6-4

Alexander Dargel (Oral Roberts) def. Alessandro DiPalma (Arkansas-Little Rock), 6-0, 6-4

Andrey Bubnov (Southern Illinois) def. Alfredo Lagarda (Illinois State), 6-4, 6-1

Rodrigo Borges (Missouri State) def. Matt Rineberg (Saint Louis), 7-6 (5), 6-1

Chris Lueth (Drake) def. Tomas Gonzales (Southern Illinois), 7-6 (5), 6-3

Vinny Meens (Creighton) def. Paul Feder (Saint Louis), 6-1, 6-4

Moti Eisikovits (Wichita State) def. Patrick Guilliod (Oral Roberts), 6-2, 6-2

Karlis Miljons (Arkansas-Little Rock) def. Joe Eckert (Creighton), 6-3, 6-4

#3 Seed Andy Connelly (Tulsa) def. Oscar Beich (Illinois State), 7-5, 6-2

Bojan Illievski (Southern Illinois) def. Chris Miller (Creighton), 6-4, 6-1

#1 Seed Eduardo Autran (Arkansas-Little Rock) def. Tim Link (Illinois State), 6-0, 6-0

Qualifying Round of 16 ­

#2 Seed Djordje Uskokovic (Illinois State) def. Rain Roigas (Arkansas-Little Rock), 6-4, 6-1

Juan Carols Nunez (Arkansas-Little Rock) def. Luka Marinkovic (Illinois State), 7-6, 3-6, 6-1

#4 Seed Ross Cunningham (Tulsa) def. Andrei Nicoara (Arkansas), 6-1, 6-3

Andrey Bubnov (Southern Illinois) def. Alexander Dargel (Oral Roberts), 6-4, 6-1

Rodrigo Borges (Missouri State) def. Chris Lueth (Drake), 6-7 (0), 6-1, 6-0

Moti Eisikovits (Wichita State) def. Vinny Meens (Creighton), 6-7 (3), 6-3, 6-4

#3 Seed Andy Connelly (Tulsa) def. Karlis Miljons (Arkansas-Little Rock), 6-0, 6-1

#1 Seed Eduardo Autran (Arkansas-Little Rock) def. Bojan Illievski (Southern Illinois), 6-3, 6-2

Qualifying Backdraw –

Matt Gordon (Saint Louis) def. Sean Coetzee (Nebraska), 6-1, 6-0

Sergio Sanchez (Southern Illinois) def. Michael Limoges (Saint Louis), 6-1, 6-2

Sean McManus (Saint Louis) def. Rudy Garza (Missouri State), 6-1, 6-1

Alfredo Lagarda (Illinois State) def. Alessandro DiPalma (Arkansas-Little Rock), 6-3, 6-3

Tomas Gonzales (Southern Illinois) def. Matt Rineberg (Saint Louis), 3-6, 6-4, 6-2

Paul Feder (Saint Louis) def. Patrick Guilliod (Oral Roberts), 6-2, 6-0

Augusto Alvarado (Wichita State) def. Oscar Beich (Illinois State), 6-2, 1-6, 7-6 (3)

Tim Link (Illinois State) def. Brian Yanulis (Arkansas), 6-1, 6-4