AUSTIN, Texas Both Michal Chmela and Tom Hand advanced to the third round of the ITA All-American on Friday afternoon by winning in straight sets in round two.
Chmela, seeded fourth in the grand slam event, beat Johan Hesoun of Kentucky 6-4, 6-3. In Saturday’s round of 16 Chmela will face James Shortall of Ole Miss. Shortall defeated Chmela a year ago in SEC dual match play.
With his second round win, Hand, ranked 21st nationally advanced to the third round of a grand slam event for the first time in his career. He beat Iowa’s Tyler Cleveland in the second round, 6-4, 6-4 to advance. Hand will square off with Lief Meineke of Boise State. Meineke is ranked No. 30 in the nation.
“I think that Michal and Tom are both playing great tennis,” said LSU coach Jeff Brown. “With Ryan Sachire (the No. 1 seed) and Esteban Carril (the No. 2 seed) both losing, it leaves the draw wide open for anyone to win.”
LSU is one of three schools to place two players in the round of sixteen. Stanford and Tennessee are the other two.
“Having two of the final 16 players makes a statement that we are one of the top programs in the country,” said Brown. “The pollsters will definitely see that in December when they vote on the preseason poll.”
In doubles action, the team of Chmela and Daniel Kiernan fell in the second round to fourth-seeded Huntley Montgomery and Brian Vahaly of Virginia 6-4, 7-5.