FLUSHING, NY – Junior Arthur Rinderknech topped No. 6 Tom Fawcett of Stanford in the 2016 USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships in singles, while Rinderknech and senior Max Lunkin defeated Alfredo Perez and Johannes Ingildsen of Florida in the doubles draw Thursday at the USTA-Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing, NY.
The USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships, which runs Nov. 3-6, is the fourth national championship of the 2016-17 ITA National Tournament calendar. Earlier this fall, national champions were crowned at the Men's and Women's All-American Championships, the Oracle ITA Masters and ITA Oracle Cup.
No. 9 Rinderknech topped Fawcett in three-sets, the Paris, France native dropped the first set in a tiebreaker before winning a tiebreaker set of his own in the second. In the decisive third set, the Maroon & White clad right-hander took a 3-1 advantage before winning 6-3. The top-10 victory was the first of Rinderknech's collegiate career, prior to Thursday his highest ranked victory was over No. 12 Aleks Vukic of Illinois in February 2016.
"Everyone here is very good and it is tough to play the first round as they acclimate to the different conditions indoors," Texas A&M head coach Steve Denton said. "Arthur's match was no different as he and Fawcett both traded the momentum back and forth for three hours. The match was hotly contested from the beginning. Very happy how Arthur stayed the course and fought his way through a very tough minded opponent. For an indoor match with two big servers, there were numerous service breaks. Arthur got down a break in the third but broke back and did a good job serving it out at 5-3 in the final set. I expect this win will propel him to a higher level tomorrow. He gets another crack at an opponent who knocked him out of the NCAA's last year in Tulsa."
No. 7 Skander Monsouri of Wake Forest is Rinderknech's second round opponent, set to take place Friday, the two faced off at the 2016 NCAA Championships in Tulsa splitting the first two sets before Rinderknech was forced to retire due to injury. The second round match is slated to begin at 9:45 a.m., with a quarterfinal match scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Rinderknech earned his place at the National Indoors by winning the Texas Regional for the second-straight season.
"The match was pretty tough today. I started the match poorly but I was able to overcome the slow start and get the win," Rinderknech said. "I'm pretty happy about the win today because I didn't play a great match but I went through by fighting hard all day. This year, our team is based on competing for every point and today even if I didn't play my best, I think that I did that pretty well."
No. 20 Rinderknech and Lunkin played a similar doubles match, winning in three sets over Perez and IIngildsen of Florida. The Maroon & White duo overcame a 6-4 first set defeat to win 7-5 in the second and 10-8 in the third set super tiebreaker. The A&M pair will take on Jathan Malik and Kevin Wong of Michigan at 4:45 p.m. Friday for a place in the semifinals.
"It is an honor to be here in this beautiful city to play this amazing tournament and represent the Aggies," Lunkin said. "Thursday's match was pretty tough, we saved 2 match points and were able to turn the match in our favor."
"That was a crazy doubles that could have gone either way," Denton said. "The pivotal point was when Arthur and Max were facing match point against Max's serve in the second set. Several mis-hits later and one of the strangest points I have seen in a long time went our way. At that point it was anybody's match and coming from 8-5 down in the super tiebreaker to win the last five points was really impressive. Something like that shows the character of our team. You have got to be very fortunate some times and we certainly were today."
The USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships features 32 of the nation's elite men's and women's singles players, as well as 20 outstanding men's and women's doubles teams. Champions from the ITA Division I Regional Championships Presented by Oracle, ITA Oracle Cup, Oracle ITA Masters and the consolation champions, doubles finalists, men's singles quarterfinalists and women's singles semifinalists from the Saint Francis ITA Men's and Riviera/ITA Women's All-American Championships earned automatic entry into the event. Both the USTA and ITA selected at-large and wildcard participants, while Columbia University received a wildcard entry into each draw for serving as event host.
FloTennis will provide exclusive live streaming coverage of the entire 2016 USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships, with at least one camera positioned on all nine competition courts. A subscription-based company, FloTennis offers its users monthly and annual rate payment options. For more information and to view the live stream, visit FloTennis.com.
Live scoring will also be available for the entire tournament, which along with updated draws, daily recaps, photo gallery links and other tournament information, can be viewed on the official ITA event page here. You can also follow the conversation Twitter by following @ITA_Tennis and using the hashtag #NationalIndoors.
Visit 12thMan.com for more information on Texas A&M men's tennis. Aggie fans also can keep up to date with the A&M men's tennis team on Twitter by following @AggieMTEN or on Facebook at Facebook.com/AggieMensTennis.
2016 USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships
Singles
Round of 32
No. 9 Arthur Rinderknech (TAMU) def. No. 6 Tom Fawcett (Stanford) 6-7(5), 7-6(1), 6-3
Round of 16
No. 9 Arthur Rinderknech (TAMU) vs. No. 7 Skander Monsouri (Wake Forest) 9:15 a.m. Friday
Doubles
Round of 16
No. 20 Max Lunkin/Arthur Rinderknech (TAMU) def. Alfredo Perez/Johannes Ingildsen (Florida) 4-6, 7-5, 1-0[8]
Quarterfinals
No. 20 Max Lunkin/Arthur Rinderknech (TAMU) vs. Jathan Malik/Kevin Wong (Michigan) 4:45 p.m. Friday
The USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships, which runs Nov. 3-6, is the fourth national championship of the 2016-17 ITA National Tournament calendar. Earlier this fall, national champions were crowned at the Men's and Women's All-American Championships, the Oracle ITA Masters and ITA Oracle Cup.
No. 9 Rinderknech topped Fawcett in three-sets, the Paris, France native dropped the first set in a tiebreaker before winning a tiebreaker set of his own in the second. In the decisive third set, the Maroon & White clad right-hander took a 3-1 advantage before winning 6-3. The top-10 victory was the first of Rinderknech's collegiate career, prior to Thursday his highest ranked victory was over No. 12 Aleks Vukic of Illinois in February 2016.
"Everyone here is very good and it is tough to play the first round as they acclimate to the different conditions indoors," Texas A&M head coach Steve Denton said. "Arthur's match was no different as he and Fawcett both traded the momentum back and forth for three hours. The match was hotly contested from the beginning. Very happy how Arthur stayed the course and fought his way through a very tough minded opponent. For an indoor match with two big servers, there were numerous service breaks. Arthur got down a break in the third but broke back and did a good job serving it out at 5-3 in the final set. I expect this win will propel him to a higher level tomorrow. He gets another crack at an opponent who knocked him out of the NCAA's last year in Tulsa."
No. 7 Skander Monsouri of Wake Forest is Rinderknech's second round opponent, set to take place Friday, the two faced off at the 2016 NCAA Championships in Tulsa splitting the first two sets before Rinderknech was forced to retire due to injury. The second round match is slated to begin at 9:45 a.m., with a quarterfinal match scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Rinderknech earned his place at the National Indoors by winning the Texas Regional for the second-straight season.
"The match was pretty tough today. I started the match poorly but I was able to overcome the slow start and get the win," Rinderknech said. "I'm pretty happy about the win today because I didn't play a great match but I went through by fighting hard all day. This year, our team is based on competing for every point and today even if I didn't play my best, I think that I did that pretty well."
No. 20 Rinderknech and Lunkin played a similar doubles match, winning in three sets over Perez and IIngildsen of Florida. The Maroon & White duo overcame a 6-4 first set defeat to win 7-5 in the second and 10-8 in the third set super tiebreaker. The A&M pair will take on Jathan Malik and Kevin Wong of Michigan at 4:45 p.m. Friday for a place in the semifinals.
"It is an honor to be here in this beautiful city to play this amazing tournament and represent the Aggies," Lunkin said. "Thursday's match was pretty tough, we saved 2 match points and were able to turn the match in our favor."
"That was a crazy doubles that could have gone either way," Denton said. "The pivotal point was when Arthur and Max were facing match point against Max's serve in the second set. Several mis-hits later and one of the strangest points I have seen in a long time went our way. At that point it was anybody's match and coming from 8-5 down in the super tiebreaker to win the last five points was really impressive. Something like that shows the character of our team. You have got to be very fortunate some times and we certainly were today."
The USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships features 32 of the nation's elite men's and women's singles players, as well as 20 outstanding men's and women's doubles teams. Champions from the ITA Division I Regional Championships Presented by Oracle, ITA Oracle Cup, Oracle ITA Masters and the consolation champions, doubles finalists, men's singles quarterfinalists and women's singles semifinalists from the Saint Francis ITA Men's and Riviera/ITA Women's All-American Championships earned automatic entry into the event. Both the USTA and ITA selected at-large and wildcard participants, while Columbia University received a wildcard entry into each draw for serving as event host.
FloTennis will provide exclusive live streaming coverage of the entire 2016 USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships, with at least one camera positioned on all nine competition courts. A subscription-based company, FloTennis offers its users monthly and annual rate payment options. For more information and to view the live stream, visit FloTennis.com.
Live scoring will also be available for the entire tournament, which along with updated draws, daily recaps, photo gallery links and other tournament information, can be viewed on the official ITA event page here. You can also follow the conversation Twitter by following @ITA_Tennis and using the hashtag #NationalIndoors.
Visit 12thMan.com for more information on Texas A&M men's tennis. Aggie fans also can keep up to date with the A&M men's tennis team on Twitter by following @AggieMTEN or on Facebook at Facebook.com/AggieMensTennis.
2016 USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships
Singles
Round of 32
No. 9 Arthur Rinderknech (TAMU) def. No. 6 Tom Fawcett (Stanford) 6-7(5), 7-6(1), 6-3
Round of 16
No. 9 Arthur Rinderknech (TAMU) vs. No. 7 Skander Monsouri (Wake Forest) 9:15 a.m. Friday
Doubles
Round of 16
No. 20 Max Lunkin/Arthur Rinderknech (TAMU) def. Alfredo Perez/Johannes Ingildsen (Florida) 4-6, 7-5, 1-0[8]
Quarterfinals
No. 20 Max Lunkin/Arthur Rinderknech (TAMU) vs. Jathan Malik/Kevin Wong (Michigan) 4:45 p.m. Friday