Rafael Jódar Advances at the Columbus Challenger

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Virginia men’s tennis sophomore Rafael Jódar is playing in the Columbus Challenger Sept. 15-21 at the Ty Tucker Tennis Center in Columbus, Ohio.

Jódar opened the tournament with a 6-3, 6-2 win against the No. 4 seed, Nicolas Mejia of Colombia.

He will take on No. 315 Alex Rybakov in the Round of 16.

Mejia, at a No. 201 ATP world ranking, is the highest-ranked player Jódar has defeated. Jódar moved up to a career-best ATP ranking of No. 325 on Monday (Spet. 15) after making the semifinals at last week’s Winston-Salem Challenger.

Jódar is 24-9 in ATP Challenger and ITF World Tennis Tour matches this year and 11-2 in his last 12.