Three Hurricanes competed in the Florida State University (FSU) Disney Invitational held in Orlando over the weekend. Sophomore Kevin Bondar highlighted the team’s performance with a run to the singles quarterfinals and sophomores Nile Clark and Niclas Genovese also competed in the tournament.
Bondar swept University of Central Florida’s Arjun Watane 6-3, 6-2 in the round of 32 after receiving a first round bye. He continued his strong showing in the round of 16, defeating the fifth-seeded Sean Donohue of Louisville in two sets 6-4, 6-3. Despite Bondar’s impressive play throughout the tournament, he was unable to defeat Pepperdine’s Lautaro Pane in the quarterfinals, falling 6-1, 6-4.
Genovese and Clark both lost in the first round of the tournament. Genovese lost in three closely contested sets to South Alabama’s Tuki Jacobs. He won the first set 7-6 but was unable to continue his success, losing the next two sets 7-2, 6-4.
Clark lost to Penn State’s Aws Laaribi in two sets 6-4, 7-5. After losing, both Genovese and Clark played in consolation games.
While several Hurricanes competed in the FSU Disney Invitational this past weekend, Miami sophomore Piotr Lomacki participated in the USTA Futures tournament in Birmingham, Alabama. He represented his home country of Poland rather than the University of Miami.
Lomacki participated in both the singles and doubles brackets. Lomacki and American Jared Hiltzik made a run to the finals on the doubles side before falling to the top-seeded duo of Americans Cameron Silverman and Wil Spencer in three sets.
The match was tightly contested from beginning to end. Lomacki and Hiltzik started strong, winning the first set 6-3. The tides turned as Silverman and Spencer reversed field, winning the next set 6-3. Silverman and Spencer continued their strong play, taking the third and final tiebreaker set 10-3.
Prior to the doubles final, Lomacki and Hiltzik advanced to the championship with relative ease. They won their first two matches in two sets each. Their semifinal match was their largest obstacle en route to the finals, requiring an 11-9 win in the final tiebreaker set to advance.
In the singles bracket, Lomacki only advanced to the second round of the tournament. He won his first match against American Patrick Daciek in three sets before falling to eighth-seeded Alexios Halebian in two sets.
The Hurricanes next play in the USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championship in Flushing, New York on Nov. 12-15.