March 3, 2011 - 4:44pm
'M' men's tennis prepares for All-American draw in Tulsa
BY DANIEL WASSERMAN
Michigan tennis sophomore Evan King was eliminated in the second round of the qualifying stage of the D’Novo/ITA All-American Championships taking place this week in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Ohio State's Blaz Rola — the third seed — defeated King, 4-6, 7-6 (6), 6-1. After winning the first set, King had three match point opportunities, but failed to put away Rola.
“I couldn’t get it done,” King said on Tuesday. “It was a tough one to lose.”
The third set was the pivotal set for King. King needed a win to finalize a victory.
"Things got a little out of hand,” Michigan associate coach Sean Maymi said. "(King) was unable to regroup and play the third set as well as he played the first couple.”
King will take this defeat as a lesson learned. He will have a chance to redeem himself come Big Ten play.
“You love to beat Ohio State," King said. "That’s probably the match I’m looking forward to most come the spring. They’ve been pretty dominant in tennis the past four or five years, so we’d like to dethrone them.”
On Monday, King defeated Arizona's Andres Carrasco in first-round play. King, playing in the first match of his sophomore season, beat the Wildcat senior in straight sets, 6-3, 6-3.
Despite his loss in singles play, King’s stretch in the weeklong tournament is not over. On Thursday, he and his doubles partner — senior Jason Jung — begin their play in the tournament's main doubles draw. Together, the two form the nation’s 12th-ranked doubles team.
“I have pretty high expectations,” Maymi said. "They need to take each match at a time and need to stick to what they know how to do, instead of getting ahead of themselves.”
In addition to doubles, Jung has already qualified for the singles main draw and begins play in that bracket on Thursday as well.
