Razorback Run Ends at ITA All-American Championships

TULSA, Okla. – The Arkansas men’s tennis team continued its fall season as nine players traveled to Tulsa, Oklahoma, to compete in the ITA All-American Championships from Saturday, September 30 through Tuesday, October 3. All nine Razorbacks opened the tournament in the singles prequalifying draw with sophomore Gerard Planelles Ripoll advancing to the qualifying draw.

Planelles Ripoll made the deepest run in the event and started out by defeating Rafael de Alba (Tulane) in straight sets and Maxime St-Hilaire (Virginia Tech) in three sets. He then matched up against Texas A&M’s Luke Casper, winning 7-5, 3-6, 6-3. In his final match of the singles prequalifying draw, Planelles Ripoll went the distance again to take down Columbia’s Ishaan Ravichander to clinch a spot in the singles qualifying draw.

In the opening round of the qualifying draw, Planelles Ripoll dropped his match to Samuel Sippel (Boise State) in straight sets. The sophomore closed out the tournament on Tuesday in the consolation draw as he claimed a 6-4, 6-1 victory over No. 119 Nathan Cox (Vanderbilt) to finish 5-1 overall for the event.

Senior Stefanos Savva kicked off the tournament with an opening round win over Nevada’s Matheo Coupu in straight sets. Savva then dropped his next match on Saturday, falling to Alan Jesudason (Drexel). Sophomore Božo Barun started off with a 6-2, 6-2 victory against Harry Thursfield (Wake Forest) before dropping his match in the next round to Penn State’s Loren Byers.

Senior Foster Rogers picked up a three-set win in his first match over Cheng En Tsai (Northern Illinois) Saturday morning. Rogers was defeated by South Carolina’s Jelani Sarr in the following round to close out the tournament. Sophomore Benedikt Emesz earned a victory against Radomir Tomic (Mississippi State) in straight sets before falling in his next match to Will Peters (UNC).

Senior Alan Sau Franco began the tournament with a win over Lipscomb’s Sebastian Dominguez, 7-6 (3), 6-3. Sau Franco then matched up against Oklahoma State’s Leighton Allen in the next round, dropping the match 0-6, 4-6. Junior Jake Sweeney fell in his opening round match to Erik Schiessl (Oklahoma State) in straight sets before dropping his consolation match to Hiroki Sakagawa (UC Irvine).

Graduate Jared Horwood kicked off the event against Jeremy Zhang of Illinois, dropping the match 3-6, 2-6. Horwood fell in his consolation match to Dayton’s Mikkel Zinder in three sets. Freshman Connor Smillie faced off against Baylor’s Christopher Frantzen, falling 3-6, 3-6. Smillie then dropped his consolation match to Pedro Liborio (Nevada) in straight sets.