Kwiatkowski/Styslinger Win Charlottesville Futures Doubles Title
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June 11, 2016
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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Virginia men’s tennis players Thai-Son Kwiatkowski (Charlotte, N.C.) and Mac Styslinger (Birmingham, Ala.) won the doubles title Saturday (June 11) at the Charlottesville Futures, a $25,000 ITF Men’s Pro Circuit tournament, being held at the Snyder Tennis Center.
Kwiatkowski and Styslinger defeated Greg Jones and Jose Statham 6-4, 6-1 in the final to win the title. This is the first professional title for Kwiatkowski and the second for Styslinger, who won a doubles Futures title in 2013 alongside Jarmere Jenkins. It was also the final professional tennis match of Styslinger’s career. Styslinger, who graduated in May, will be moving to New York to pursue a career in finance.
“This is the best way to end a career,” Styslinger said. “Everyone dreams about going out on top and winning their last match. It is really special. And to do it with your best friend, it doesn’t get any better than that. We have played together now for three years. To finish our run with a title is special. Playing here at Snyder is how I really dreamed of ending my career.”
Kwiatkowski and Styslinger advanced to doubles finals after knocking off third-seeded Darian King and Tennys Sandgren, 6-2, 7-5, on Wednesday in the first round and then winning 7-5, 6-3 over Jared Hiltzik and Aleks Vukic on Thursday afternoon. On Friday, they logged a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Damon Gooch and Gonzales Austin to earn the trip to the final.
Kwiatkowski also advanced to Saturday’s singles semifinal, but fell 6-4, 6-4 to Sandgren, giving him his best-ever professional finish. On Tuesday, Kwiatkowski downed qualifier Dragos Constantin Ignat 6-0, 6-2 in the first round, following that with a 6-0, 6-3 victory over Damon Gooch on Thursday. In Friday’s quarterfinal ousted No. 7 seed Alex Kuznetsov, currently ranked No. 399 in the world, 6-3, 7-6 (5).
Styslinger also competed in the singles draw, advancing to Friday’s quarterfinals. On Wednesday, Styslinger won the battle of a pair of Cavaliers, downing sophomore Henrik Wiersholm (Kirkland, Wash.) 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 in his first round match. In Thursday’s second round, Styslinger dropped his first set 7-5 to No. 6 seed Peter Bester. The two were tied 4-4 in the second set when Styslinger was awarded the match by default. Styslinger fell 6-3, 6-4 to Dennis Nevolo, currently ranked No. 480, in the quarters.
Five other current and former Cavaliers also competed in the tournament. In the 16-team doubles draw, redshirt junior Harrison Richmond (Pawley’s Island, S.C.) and sophomore Alexander Ritschard (Zurich, Switzerland) knocked off the second-seeded doubles team, Eric Quigley and Anderson Reed, 6-3, 7-6 (4), on Tuesday to advance to the quarterfinals. Richmond and Ritschard fell in the quarterfinals with Jones and Statham downing the duo 6-1, 6-2.
In singles, Ritschard came up just shy of knocking off top-seeded King in a first-round match on Wednesday. King won the first set, 6-1, but Ritschard dominated the second set, winning 6-1. The third set was knotted 6-6 and had to be decided by a tiebreaker with King coming out ahead by a 7-2 score. Junior Luca Corinteli (Alexandria, Va.) fell 7-6 (1), 6-3 to Kuzenetsov in the first round of singles. Corinteli also competed in doubles, partnering with Jenkins, falling 3-6, 6-4, 10-5 to Austin and Gooch on Tuesday.
Wiersholm and freshman Aswin Lizen (Douglas, Isle of Man) dropped their doubles match 6-1, 6-2 to Hiltzik and Vukic.
The $25K Charlottesville Futures is an ITF Men’s Circuit professional tennis tournament featuring some of the rising stars of the tennis world all looking to increase their ATP points and improve their world rankings while battling for a share of the prize money. The ITF Men’s Circuit offers 600+ tournaments spanning 77 countries that enable players to eventually reach the higher-level tournaments on the ATP World Tour.
The tournament was also part of the USTA Pro Circuit College Series, a circuit of more than 10 tournaments held on or near college campuses nationwide to provide a platform for college players to gain pro experience and earn the ATP or WTA ranking points needed to transition to the pro ranks. The Charlottesville Futures was the first event of the Collegiate Series and will be followed by a $25,000 men’s Futures event next week at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C.