Carl Soderlund is the Runner-Up at L.A. Futures

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Jan. 8, 2017

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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Five Virginia men’s tennis players competed this week in the main singles draw of the USC Los Angeles $25,000 Pro Futures Tournament in California.

Freshman Carl Soderlund (Stockholm, Sweden) was the runner-up in the singles draw, advancing to the final after defeating six-seed Evan King 7-6(2), 6-7(6), 6-3 in the semifinals, but falling to 2016 NCAA singles champion Mackenzie McDonald 6-4, 6-0 in Sunday’s final. McDonald is currently ranked No. 293 in the world.

Juniors Henrik Wiersholm (Kirkland, Wash.) and Collin Altamirano (Sacramento, Calif.) earned spots in the main draw by advancing through qualifying. Senior J.C. Aragone (Yorba Linda, Calif.) was awarded a wild card into the main draw. Senior Thai-Son Kwiatkowski (Charlotte, N.C.) and Söderlund earned spots in the main draw by virtue of their current ATP rankings. Söderlund is the No. 8 seed in the tournament.

Additionally, Altamirano and Kwiatkowski will be partnering together in the doubles tournament while Söderlund partnered with fellow Swede Jonathan Mridha.

Wiersholm and Altamirano earned two of the available eight spots available through the 64-player qualifying tournament. Wiersholm downed Eric James Johnson (6-4, 6-4), Max Pham (6-3, 6-4) and Jordan Angus (6-3, 6-2) while Altamirano defeated Henry Ji (6-3, 6-1), Alec Admasom (6-0, 6-0) and Mousheg Hovhannisyan (6-2, 6-2).

All five Cavaliers advanced to the second round after winning their first-round matches on Wednesday. Altamirano picked up a big win, upsetting top-seeded Tommy Paul, 4-6, 6-0, 6-3. Paul is currently ranked No. 282 in the world ATP rankings. Aragone dropped his first set 7-5 to Markos Kalovelonis, but two the final two 6-3, 6-4 to advance to the second round. Wiersholm downed fellow-qualifier Jonathan Mridha in straight sets, both of which were decided by tiebrekaers, 7-6(4), 7-6 (3). Kwiatkowski defeated Antoine Bellier, 6-4, 6-4. Söderlund completed the Cavalier sweep with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Sameer Kumar in the first round.

Altamirano defeated qualifier Karue Sell 7-6 (5), 7-5 to advance to the quarterfinals. Söderlund won the battle of the Cavaliers on Thursday, downing Kwiatkowski 7-5, 7-5. Söderlund prevailed in a second battle of the Cavaliers in the quarterfinals, downing Altamirano 7-6(7), 6-3, to advance to Saturday’s semifinals.

Wiersholm fell 6-2, 6-4 to No. 2 seed Roberto Quiroz in the second round and Aragone fell 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 to sixth-seeded Evan King.

In doubles, Kwiatkowski and Altamirano cruised to a 6-1, 6-2 victory over Kaptan Kaster and Lucas Renard in the first round but fell 6-4, 7-6 (3) to Yannick Hanfmann and Roberto Quiroz in the quarterfinals.

Söderlund and Mridha were edged by top-seeded Luke Bambridge and Joe Salisbury, 6-4, 6-4, in the first round.