Horned Frog tennis makes tournament appearances in College Station and Las Vegas

By Carolina Olivares

Published Oct 26, 2017

Alastair Gray at the ITA Texas Regional Championships in College Station. Photo courtesy of GoFrogs.

The TCU men’s tennis team kicked off this past week in collegiate and pro circuit events as three current and former Horned Frogs were either in the main draw of doubles or singles at the inaugural Las Vegas Open, an ATP Challenger event.

According to much of WV online casinos list reports, the event was held at UNLV’s Fertitta Tennis Complex and gave away $50,000 in prize money from Oct. 16-22. A men’s professional tournament has not been held in Las Vegas, Nevada, since the Tennis Channel Open at the Darling Tennis Center in 2008.

Current and former TCU tennis Horned Frogs enjoying a night of sightseeing in Las Vegas after the Las Vegas Tennis Open, an ATP Challenger tour, from Oct. 16-22. (Left to Right: Alastair Gray, Facundo Lugones, Alex Rybakov, Cameron Norrie, and Trevor Johnson). Photo courtesy of Alex Rybakov.

Alex Rybakov and Trevor Johnson started in qualifying. Rybakov made it to the final round but fell to former Florida State player Benjamin Lock of Zimbabwe in a three-set battle. Johnson was only able to made it to round two in qualifying but earned a wildcard into the main draw of doubles, losing in the quarterfinals.

Rybakov achieved the Lucky Loser spot in the main draw singles and joined recently turned Frog professional, Cameron Norrie. Rybakov lost in the opening round to Liam Broady of Great Britain in two sets. Norrie ended his 11-match winning streak in a loss to Broady in the Round of 16.

Meanwhile, from Oct. 19-23 four other Horned Frogs made the trip to College Station for the 2017 ITA Texas Regional Championships presented by Oracle.

Alastair Gray and Reese Stalder both made it to the quarterfinals in singles, respectively falling to No. 40 Johannes Schretter and No. 68 Jimmy Bendeck from Baylor.

Gray and Stalder were not the only Horned Frogs to experience defeat from the Baylor Bears. Freshman, Eduardo Roldan, made it to the Round of 32 but could not hold on as he lost in two sets to Will Little.

Gray and Stalder also advanced to the quarterfinals in doubles but unfortunately fell to the Colin Markes and Adrian Ortiz duo from UT with a set score of 8-5. The TCU freshman duo, Roldan and McNeel, also lost to the Longhorns in the Round of 32 in Doubles and could not redeem themselves in the consolation doubles against Texas Tech.