Gabriel Townes of Atlanta, Austin Smith of Cumming and Will Spencer of the University of Georgia were the only local players to advance in Saturday’s qualifiers for the Atlanta Tennis Championships.
Spencer and Australia’s Nick Lindahl were split at one set each when Lindahl retired with an injury. Spencer must win two more qualifiers to advance to the main draw, which begins Monday at the Racquet Club of the South in Norcross.
Townes, a former Georgia State player, defeated Eric Graves 7-5, 6-1. He and Spencer will play Sunday.
Georgia Tech’s Guillermo Gomez didn’t advance, losing to Phillip Simmonds 6-4, 6-4. Tech’s Kevin King lost to Nicolas Massu 6-3, 6-7 (5), 4-6.
Two other Bulldogs, Drake Bernstein and Nate Schnugg, also failed to advance. Bernstein was beaten 6-1, 6-4 by Haydn Lewis, and Schnugg lost to Smith 6-3, 7-5.
Bernstein will team with King in the doubles event, which could start as early as Monday.
In other matches, Mac Styslinger, Denis Kudla, Daniel Kosakowski, and Olivier Sajous advanced.
About the Author
