PALO ALTO, Calif. — LSU’s Ken Skupski defeated Ohio State’s Bryan Koniecko in straight sets, 7-6 (7), 7-6 (5), in the round of 64 singles competition of the men’s tennis NCAA Championships at Stanford’s Taube Family Tennis Center on Wednesday.
“It was a tough match and both competitors had some opportunities,” LSU head coach Jeff Brown said. “Ken kept his composure and Koniecko never went away so it went to two tiebreakers. I am just glad Ken was able to pull through.”
The win is the first for Skupski in NCAA singles tournament play and it increases his record for the year to 29-8, including 14-5 against ranked opponents.
Skupski will play Texas’ Travis Helgeson and will begin the doubles portion of the tournament on Thursday at noon CT.
Skupski and Koniecko, ranked 20th and 33rd, respectively, battled in a hard-fought first set. With the score tied at 2-2, Koniecko won the fifth game to take a 3-2 lead. Skupski then won his serve to tie the score but could not break Koniecko allowing his opponent to retake the lead, 4-3. They split the next two games, keeping Koniecko in command at 5-4.
One game away from losing the first set, Skupski fired back winning his serve and breaking Koniecko to put himself ahead in the set, 6-5. Koniecko won the next game, sending the first set to a tiebreaker.
Skupski and Koniecko continued their heated battle in the tiebreaker. With the score tied at 6-6, Koniecko only notched one more point as Skupski came out with a 9-7 tiebreaker victory and a 7-6 first-set victory.
The second set transpired in similar fashion. Koniecko took a 2-1 early lead but Skupski bounced back taking the next two games and the lead at 3-2. They split the next two games, allowing Skupski to be in control with a 4-3 lead.
Koniecko held his ground, capturing two-straight games to place him one game away from the second-set victory. However, Skupski showed the resiliency he had in the first set, taking the next two games and a 6-5 lead.
Koniecko would not go down without a fight, as he tied the score at 6-6 to send the competitors into another tiebreaker.
In the tiebreaker, Konieck took a 5-4 lead only to see Skupski capture the next three points to take the tiebreaker and the match.
Skupski and partner Mark Growcott, ranked 14th in the country as a duo, reached the finals of last year’s championship. The pair will face No. 35-ranked Nick Coutts and Zach Ganger of Utah in the opening round at 8 p.m. CT.
The Tiger tandem is 22-7 on the season, while their Ute counterparts compiled a 16-5 record.
“I think with the experience they had last year and how well they played this year they will get off to a good start tomorrow,” Brown said.
LSU’s winningest doubles team of 2006, Colt Gaston and Danny Bryan are currently the tournament’s No. 2 doubles alternate and are waiting to find out whether or not they will compete.