PENSACOLA, Fla. – The University of South Alabama men’s tennis team traveled to Pensacola, Fla. to take part in the qualifying round of the International Tennis Federation’s Futures Tournament.   

“Playing a Futures Tournament is different,” said USA head coach Nick Brochu. “The atmosphere is very quiet. Each player is here for himself, nobody cheers you up, no coaching during the match, you play only for yourself instead of for the school. College players have to adapt to a new environment. It is a great experience for them.”

South Alabama’s Lucas Viel (Boussy-Saint-Antoine, France), Christian Kuehne (Morbach, Germany), and Romain Bocaert (Lille, France) picked singles wins today while Hanno Bartsch (Pretoria, South Africa) and Dauw Kruger (Pretoria, South Africa) were knocked out of the tournament.

Bocaert had a bye in the first round of play before defeating Dilshod Sharifi of Tajikistan 2-6, 7-6 (6-4), 6-2. Viel downed Zachary Northey of the United States in straight sets, 6-1, 6-2 in round one. Kuehne advanced to round two of play with his 6-3, 5-7, 6-3 win over Joseph Kasnetz of the US.

Also in round one, Bartsch fell to the US’ Milo Johnson 6-3, 6-3 and Kruger dropped a tough 6-7 (3-6), 6-4, 6-4 match to Nathan Rosenfeld of the US.

“Overall, we had good results,” said Brochu. “This tournament has very good players and we will have excellent matches tomorrow.”

Kuehne, Viel, Bocaert, Alexandre Bernard and Cody Hall will continue vying for a spot in the main singles draw at 11 a.m.

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check with www.usajaguars.com.  Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251)461-1USA(1872).

—USA—