Category: Men’s Tennis

PHOTOS: Highlights from Ben Shelton’s U.S. Open semifinal loss

Novak Djokovic ultimately proved too much for the young former Gator, but time is on Ben Shelton’s side.

Former Florida tennis standout [autotag]Ben Shelton[/autotag]’s magical run at the 2023 U.S. Open held in Flushing, New York, came to an end on Friday with a semifinal loss to one of the best to ever play the game: Novak Djokovic.

The 20-year-old Gator fell to his opponent in straight sets, 6-3, 6-2, 7-6 (4), after becoming the youngest American man in the U.S. Open semifinals since Michael Chang in 1992 to reach the semis. However, Shelton was simply overwhelmed by a superior opponent and despite pushing hard in the final set, he took the defeat.

Djokovic vs. Shelton was a mismatch coming into Friday’s affair as the former was participating in his record 47th Slam semifinal and his 100th US Open match, while the latter was ranked 47th and in only his seventh career match at the Open.

Below are highlights from Ben Shelton’s disappointing loss in the U.S. Open semifinals against Novak Djokovic.

 

 

PHOTOS: Highlights from Ben Shelton’s U.S. Open upset quarterfinal win

With the win, Shelton now faces Novak Djokovic on Friday in the semifinals.

Former Florida tennis standout [autotag]Ben Shelton[/autotag] continued his magical run at the 2023 U.S. Open held in Flushing, New York, on Tuesday with a quarterfinal win over fellow American, Frances Tiafoe. The 20-year-old Gator outlasted his opponent, 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (9-7), 6-2, to become the youngest American man in the U.S. Open semifinals since Michael Chang in 1992.

Tiafoe seemed to have early jitters playing such a hyped-up match despite being the higher-seeded and more experienced player; Shelton, on the other hand, had the benefit of lower expectations against his 25-year-old opponent. The former finished with 14 aces but 11 double faults in a back-and-forth match that featured big hits and equally big misses while the latter’s serve started to waver as the game wore on.

Nonetheless, the 2022 NCAA champion outlasted his fellow countryman and earned a trip to the next round. In the semifinals, the great Novak Djokovic who is seeded second in the tournament awaits the young up-and-comer.

In the meantime, take a look below at highlights from Shelton’s U.S. Open quarterfinals win on Tuesday.

PHOTOS: Highlights from Ben Shelton’s U.S. Open win on Sunday

Get a glimpse of what former Gator Ben Shelton was up to on Sunday at the U. S. Open.

Former Florida tennis standout Ben Shelton put up a stellar performance on Sunday against Tommy Paul on Day 7 of the 2023 U.S. Open held in Flushing, New York. Armed with his vicious power serve, the 20-year-old earned a trip to the quarterfinals thanks to a five-set victory over Paul (6-4, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4).

The two had tangled before at the Australian Open at the start of the year, with Shelton taking the four-set defeat despite being up 4-1 in the third. The Gator alumnus credits the increased mental tenacity developed from that failure as the source of his success.

“I learned to be mentally tough,” Shelton told Eurosport. “When I was playing in Australia after a long week I was looking at my box saying ‘My legs are dead, I am tired, I can’t go anymore’. I realized how important it is to believe in myself. That I can go the full way emotionally and physically and now I have that belief here.”

Shelton’s serve topped out at 149 mph in the third set — good enough for an ace — and has been clocked in the upper 140s during his time in Flushing. He will face Frances Tiafoe on Tuesday in the quarterfinals.

In the meantime, take a look below at highlights from Shelton’s big U.S. Open win on Sunday against Tommy Paul on Day 7 of hardcourt action.

 

 

Carmen’s Crew vs. Friday Beers: How to watch, stream the game Saturday

Here’s how to watch and follow the Ohio State men’s tennis team as it goes for a national title on Sunday. #GoBucks

In case you’ve missed it, the reboot of the Ohio State basketball alumni team known as Carmen’s Crew has looked mighty impressive in its first two games of The Basketball Tournament.

If you’ve followed along over the last few years, you know that TBT is a winner take all tournament worth $2 million dollars for the tournament winners. The OSU alumni team win the whole thing in 2019, with mixed results in the other years it has competed. Carmen’s Crew skipped last year’s event but has been up to the task in 2023 with a retooled roster.

Carmen’s Crew disposed of India Rising easily on Friday night in the Dayton region and will now face No. 2 seed Friday Beers on Saturday night for a chance at the quarterfinals.

In case you’d like to follow along and cheer on some former Ohio State basketball players again in the TBT, we have everything you need to find and watch the game.

Basic info

When: Saturday, July 29, at 7:00 p.m. ET

How to watch/stream/listen:

Broadcast: ESPN+

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Ohio State men’s tennis doubles team wins national championship

Congrats to Andrew and James, National Champions! #GoBucks

It wasn’t easy for [autotag]Ohio State[/autotag] men’s doubles tennis team of [autotag]Andrew Lutschaunig[/autotag] and [autotag]James Trotter[/autotag] facing off against a Texas Longhorns duo with a championship on the line.

The Buckeye duo battled the Longhorns’ Cleeve Harper and Eliot Spizzirri hard with the pair in burnt orange giving it their all, but eventually, Ohio State outlasted them and hoisted a championship trophy. Although OSU fell just short of the team title, Lutschaunig and Trotter helped the Buckeyes come home with some hardware nonetheless.

Ohio State won the first set 6-4, then took the second to capture the title. The senior pair closed out their Buckeye career in style, even though their ultimate goal was not quite attained bringing all the hardware home with their teammates.

Congrats to Andrew and James on an amazing Buckeye career and finishing it off with a championship.

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Ohio State men’s tennis doubles team will play for national championship

The duo will have a shot at a national title on Saturday! #GoBucks

The Ohio State men’s tennis team finished just a wee bit short of taking home a national championship, but one of the Buckeyes’ doubles teams has another shot to add a national title trophy to the case.

And it came in come-from-behind fashion.

The doubles team of Andrew Lutschaunig and James Trotter did battle with Pepperdine’s Daniel De Jonge and Tim Zeitvogel and had to pull off a thrilling comeback. The OSU duo started out losing the first set 6-3 and had to work hard to win the second set 7-6 in a tiebreaker by a score of 7-2.

That forced a super-tiebreaker for the third set to determine the winner and Ohio State capitalized on its momentum to win that pretty handily by a score of 10-4. Just like that, a ticket had been punched to the national championship game on Saturday opposite the team of Cleeve Harper and Eliot Spizzirri of Texas.

Match time is set for 11:30 a.m. ET.

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Three Ohio State men’s tennis players earn All-American status

More accolades for the Ohio State men’s tennis team. #GoBucks

The Ohio State men’s tennis program has been one of the most consistently high-achieving programs over the last fifteen years or so. The Buckeyes seem to have the Big Ten in a stranglehold and almost annually find their way to Orlando for the last 16 teams alive in the NCAA Championships.

This year was no different with OSU winning both the Big Ten regular season and tournament titles, then finding its way into the national championship match where it fell short to defending champion, Virginia.

To make it that far, Ohio State had to have some outstanding individual players, and that was certainly the case. So much so, that three of those players made it far enough in the individual portion of the NCAA Championships to garner All-American honors.

Freshman Alexander Bernard continued his late-season rise by making it all the way to the quarterfinals despite coming into the bracket as the No. 41 ranked player. He beat No. 53 Raphael Perot from Texas A&M, and No. 56 Sanir Banerjee of Stanford to secure his All-American status. Bernard went on to defeat No. 65 Andre Ilagan of Hawaii before succumbing to No. 9 Chris Rodesch of Virginia.

James Trotter also earned All-American status by getting by No. 18 Alafia Ayeni of Kentucky in a tough three-setter, then winning over No. 16 Connor Thomson of South Carolina before falling to No. 20 Andrew Fenty of Michigan.

Cannon Kingsley also became an All-American for the third time in his career despite a tough three-set loss to No. 42 Murphy Cassone of Arizona State.

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Ohio State men’s tennis settles for NCAA runner up

In case you missed it, the Ohio State men’s tennis team fell short of its goal of a national title with a runner-up finish. #GoBucks

That outdoor national championship remains elusive for the Ohio State men’s tennis program.

After entering the 2023 NCAA Men’s Tennis Championships as the No. 3 seed, the Buckeyes made it all the way through the bracket, even upsetting No. 2 seed TCU in the semifinals 4-0 to earn a right to play for a national title against defending national champion and No. 5 seed Virginia.

But that’s where things ended down in Orlando.

Unfortunately for the Buckeyes. they never really found themselves in the match and fell to the Cavaliers 4-0. OSU lost the doubles point when it dropped two of the three matches to fall behind 1-0 and never really recovered in the singles matches to make a game of it.

UVA got straight-set wins on courts one, two, and three to secure the win easily 4-0. Justin Boulais (6-4, 6-2), Cannon Kingsley (6-4, 6-2), and JJ Tracy (6-2, 6-1) all fell with James Trotter, Alexander Bernard, and Jack Anthrop all still in action but no longer needed to determine the outcome.

With the loss, Ohio State finishes the season with a 34-3 and comes just a whisker away from winning the national title again while taking home the Big Ten regular season and tournament titles.

Focus will now turn to the individual and doubles NCAA championships with Kingsley, Boulais, Tracy, Trotter, and Bernard all in action for the singles tournament, and Andrew Lutschaunig and Robert Cash joining teammates in the doubles tournament.

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How to watch Ohio State men’s tennis play for a national championship on Sunday

Here’s how to watch and follow the Ohio State men’s tennis team as it goes for a national title on Sunday. #GoBucks

The Ohio State men’s tennis team will be playing for a national championship on Sunday in Orlando, Florida. Entering the NCAA Men’s Tennis Championships, the Buckeyes received the No. 3 seed. They made their way through the early rounds of the tournament with ease, faced a stiff challenge against No. 6 seed Georgia in a come-from-behind thriller, then upset No. 2 seed TCU in dominant fashion to punch a ticket to the national title match opposite No. 5 seed, and defending national champion, Virginia.

We know that you are all about all things Ohio State, especially if it involves the chance for a national title, so we have all of the information you need to find and watch the match that could cement the Buckeyes as national champions for the 2023 season.

So find a way to set some time aside and root on the scarlet and gray on Sunday. Here’s how to do it.

Basic info

When: Sunday, May 21, at 12:00 p.m. ET

How to watch/stream/listen:

Broadcast: NCAA.com

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Ohio State men’s tennis advances to national championship match with win over TCU

Playing for a national title on Sunday! #GoBucks

The Ohio State men’s tennis team will be playing for an outdoor national title on Sunday thanks to a dominating 4-0 win over No. 2 seed TCU on Saturday in Orlando, Florida in a semifinal matchup of the Men’s NCAA Tennis Championships.

Unlike the previous match against No. 6 seed Georgia on Friday, the Buckeyes this time got off on the right foot by taking the doubles point in a thrilling tiebreaker of the third match with James Trotter and Andrew Lutschaunig coming up clutch.

From there, OSU dominated in singles with Jack Anthrop notching the first win by way of a 6-2, 6-2 victory to make it 2-0. Justin Boulais then took the next point to make it 3-0 Ohio State with a 6-3, 6-4 victory. Freshman Alexander Bernard then sealed it for the second straight day with a 6-4, 6-4 win to send the Buckeyes into the national championship match.

The other three matches in progress then didn’t need to finish.

As great as Ohio State has been under head coach Ty Tucker, the outdoor title has been achingly close without breaking through. The Buckeyes will have a chance to finally knock the door down when it faces defending champion and No. 5 seed Virginia on Sunday at Noon.

We’ll all be rooting and watching.

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