BATON ROUGE, La.– Former LSU pair and brothers team of Neal and Ken Skupski took their second ATP challenger title of the year Sunday in Cherbourg, France picking up 90 ATP points, just on the cusp of the win in Italy at the beginning of the month.
February was a great month for former Tigers in the pros with two ATP 250 wins from Michael Venus to add to the Skupski’s two challenger wins.
This week, the Skupski duo, ranked 85th in the world, heads to Quimper, France where they are seeded No. 2 in the ATP challenger event. They will face Sergiy Stakhovsky and Michal Mertinak in the first round.
For other Tigers on tour, Venus and partner Mate Pavic are coming off a loss in the first round of the ATP 500 event in Acapulco, Mexico in three close sets. Venus will continue on to represent New Zealand in the Davis Cup in Seoul, Korea March 4-6.
The first round will be Korea versus New Zealand and serves as the tenth meeting between the two. The Kiwis hold a 7-2 record over their Korean counterparts and hope to hold up against the only top-100 singles player in the tie, No. 63 Hyeon Chung.
The 19-year-old Suwon, South Korea native received the ATP Most Improved Player of the Year Award in 2015, which is voted on by fellow players.
This is Venus’ 13th tie appearance in the Davis Cup with a 9-6 record in singles and a 1-5 doubles record.
For up-to-date information and behind-the-scenes access on the Tigers, fans can follow the LSU men’s tennis team on Twitter and Instagram at @lsutennis and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/lsutennis.