University of Georgia Athletics
University of Georgia
Hall of Fame Tournament
Loeb, Phillips Highlight Day Two On The Grass Courts
September 16, 2017 | Men's Tennis
Loeb, Phillips Highlight Day Two On The Grass Courts
NEWPORT, Rhode Island — Georgia men's tennis redshirt-sophomore Alex Phillps moved into the finals of his draw, while sophomore Robert Loeb took down Illinois counterpart Aleks Kovacevic to cap day two action at the 2017 International Tennis Hall of Fame ITA Grass Court Invitational.
Loeb rebounded from a loss on Friday to defeat 80th-ranked Kovacevic, 6-4, 6-7, 11-9, while Phillips ousted Jack Mingjie Lin from Columbia, 6-2, 7-6, to advance to the title match of the Gardnar Mulloy Flight.
"A good singles day for Alex and Robert," associate head coach Jamie Hunt said. "They both picked up big singles wins. Alex will have the opportunity to play for a title tomorrow and will look to get after it. We lost a tough one in the semis of singles and the finals of doubles. In doubles, we had an opportunity to close it out but let it slip away. We'll learn from it and be better from the experience in the finals."
The nation's No. 2-ranked duo of Loeb and Jan Zielinski had a tough go of it on Saturday, with a tight 8-7 loss to TCU's Alastair Gray and Alex Rybakov in the title match. Andy Martinez and Phillips dropped an 8-3 contest to Vuk Budic and Aleks Kovacevic.
Georgia will be back in action on Sunday at 10 a.m. ET.
Day 2 Results - Hall of Fame Grass Court Invitational
Saturday, Sept. 16, 2017
Singles
Alex Phillips (Georgia) def. Jack Mingjie Lin (Columbia), 6-2, 7-6
Caleb Chakravarthi (Illinois) def. Andy Martinez (Georgia), 6-2, 6-3
Robert Loeb (Georgia) def. #80 Aleks Kovacevic (Illinois), 6-4, 6-7, 11-9
Alastair Gray (TCU) def. Jan Zielinski (Georgia), 6-7, 6-1, 10-7
Doubles
Gray/Rybakov (TCU) def. Loeb/Zielinski (Georgia), 8-7
Budic/Chakravarthi (Illinois) def. Martinez/Phillips (Georgia), 8-3
Players Mentioned
