Rice University
ITA South-Central Regional Championships
Owls Advance To Singles and Doubles Quarterfinals at ITA Regionals
10/22/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Oct. 22, 2006
FORT WORTH, Texas -- Rice junior Ralph Knupfer posted a pair of straight-set singles wins and two Owl tandems also won in doubles to advance to the main draw quarterfinals at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association's South-Central Regional Championships on Sunday in Fort Worth.
Knupfer, the No. 4 seed in the tournament, began the day with a 6-4, 6-4 win against Rook Schellenberg of Texas in the round of 32. The Owl then made quick work of the No. 14 seed, Filip Kanszcula of Lamar, for a 6-0, 6-3 victory and a trip to Monday's quarterfinals. Knupfer will face Texas Tech's Bojan Szumanski, seeded seventh, at 10 am.
Rice's two doubles teams were also impressive on Sunday. Müller and partner Jason Mok upset the SMU tandem of Alex Skrypko and Federico Murgier, seeded at No. 7, 8-4. Harknett and Paroci downed the Longhorns' Evan Bridges and Johan Kane-West 8-4. Both Rice teams play in Monday's quarterfinals beginning at 2:30 pm.
In other singles action, senior Ben Harknett, sophomore Christoph Müller and freshman Filip Paroci all scored straight-set wins in the round of 32, highlighted by Müller's upset of 11th seeded Dimitar Kutrovsky of Texas, 6-3, 6-1. The trio were eliminated in the round of 16.
Tournament action continues in Fort Worth through Tuesday. The singles finalists and the doubles champions receive automatic bids to the ITA National Indoor Championships, Nov. 2-4 in Columbus, Ohio.
Singles Results
Main Draw - Rd. of 32
(9) Ben Harknett (Rice) def. Dusan Tabok (ULL), 6-4, 6-2
Christoph Müller (Rice) def. (11) Dimitar Kutrovsky (UT), 6-3, 6-1
(4) Ralph Knupfer (Rice) def. Rook Schellenberg (UT), 6-4, 6-2
(13) Filip Paroci (Rice) def. Robin Fernandes (UTSA), 6-4, 6-4
(7) Bojan Szumanski (TTU) def. Tobias Scheil (Rice), 6-7, 6-3, 6-3
Main Draw - Rd. of 16
(4) Ralph Knupfer (Rice) def. (14) Filip Kanszcula (Lamar), 6-0, 6-3
(3) Alex Skrypko (SMU) def. (9) Ben Harknett (Rice), 7-5, 4-6, 6-4
(1) Lars Poerschke (Baylor) def. Christoph Müller (Rice), 6-4, 6-2
(8) Milan Mihailovic (Baylor) def. (13) Filip Paroci (Rice), 6-1, 6-3
Doubles Results
Main Draw - Rd. of 32
Mok/Müller (Rice) def. (7) Murgier/Skrypko (SMU), 8-4
Harknett/Paroci (Rice) def. Bridges/Kane-West (UT), 8-4
Players Mentioned
