Frank and Jenkins Advance on Day One of NCAA Singles Tournament

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May 22, 2013

URBANA, Ill. – A day after helping Virginia win its first NCAA Team Championship, four Cavaliers were in action Wednesday as the NCAA Singles Championship began at the University of Illinois. Mitchell Frank (Annandale, Va.) and Jarmere Jenkins (College Park, Ga.) advanced to the round of 32 with first round wins, but Alex Domijan (Wesley Chapel, Fla.) and Mac Styslinger (Birmingham, Ala.) suffered losses.

Frank posted the biggest win of the day, upsetting top-seeded Mikelis Libietis of Tennessee 6-2, 6-1 in the first round. He becomes the third Cavalier in history to defeat a No. 1 seed at the NCAA Singles Championship. He joins Somdev Devvarman, who downed No. 1 John Isner of Georgia in the 2007 final, and Sanam Singh, who took out top-seeded Arnau Brugues of Tulsa in the 2009 quarterfinals. Frank will play Andreas Mies of Auburn in the second round.

Jenkins, the tournament’s No. 3 seed, is now the highest ranked player left in the draw after the first round losses by top-seeded Libietis and second-seeded Domijan. In his opening match, Jenkins topped Ben Wagland of Georgia 6-2, 6-4. The win avenged Jenkins’ loss to Wagland two days earlier during the Virginia-Georgia semifinal match of the team tournament. Jenkins will play Yannick Maden of Clemson in the second round.

Domijan lost his first round match to Tsvetan Mihov of South Carolina 6-4, 3-6, 6-2. Styslinger, making his NCAA singles debut, nearly upset No. 9-16 seed Ryan Lipman of Vanderbilt, suffering a 6-2, 3-6, 7-6(5) defeat.

In addition to the second round of the NCAA Singles Championship, Thursday’s schedule includes the start of the NCAA Doubles Championship. The fourth-seeded duo of Jenkins and Styslinger take on hometown favorites Ross Guignon and Tim Kopinski of Illinois in the first round. The team of Domijan and Frank open the tournament against Manfred Jeske and Mike Nott of Arkansas.