Jan. 26, 2011
HONOLULU, HI - Texas A&M senior All-American Austin Krajicek (cry-CHECK) opened the first round of the 2011 ATP Challenger Tournament by defeating the world's #329 ranked player in Michael Venus from New Zealand, 6-4, 6-1.
The match was played this afternoon at the Patsy T. Mink CORP Tennis Complex in Honolulu, Hawaii. Krajicek advances to face the winner of the match between the fifth-seeded Bobby Reynolds from the USA and Samuel Groth of Australia in a match that will be played on Wednesday.
Krajicek (Brandon, FL), currently ranked #23 in the ITA collegiate singles rankings, is coming off an impressive fall both in singles and at doubles. Krajicek and his teammate, Jeff Dadamo (Tampa, FL), won the doubles championship at the 2010 USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships in Flushing, New York. Krajicek also advanced to the semifinals in the singles draw at the Costa Mesa Pro Classic knocking off the top-seeded Fabrice Martin.
Krajicek had seen Venus, formerly of LSU, who won the 2008 D'Novo All-American singles championship and finished 2009 ranked #7 in singles in the ITA collegiate rankings, a couple of times before. Venus is currently ranked #329 in the world and has been as high as #302.
“I thought I had a pretty good warmup session and I have faced Mike a couple of times before,” Krajicek said. “My game matched up pretty well against his. I got off to a good start in the match and gained confidence after I gained one break in the first set. Then I just got on a roll and played a complete match and never let him get back into the match in the second set and was able to close it out.”
Krajicek's next match will be Thursday in Hawaii.