Frog Men's Tennis Summer Update
8/19/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Aug. 19, 2009
FORT WORTH--Members of the TCU men's tennis team spent at least a portion of their summer break preparing for the 2009-10 collegiate season by competing in individual tournaments. With the summer winding down and the team ready to return to campus, GoFrogs.com takes a look at some of the highlights put together by Frogs on the ITA collegiate summer circuit and in Futures tournaments on the international stage.
Zach Nichols--Nichols experienced a productive summer that saw him make the rounds on the ITA summer college circuit. He most recently reached the quarterfinals of the ITA/USTA National Summer Championships, held in Bloomington, Ind., after advancing through one of 27 regionals earlier in the summer. Nichols made the finals with a Round-of-32 win over Drew Courtney, who posted a 33-6 record last season for Virginia, which reached the quarterfinals of the NCAA team championships back in May. Nichols earlier won four straight singles matches as the top seed of an ITA summer event in Abilene to reach the final round, where he suffered a loss by default.
Paul Chappell, Kelubia Mabatah, Cameron Nash and Christopher Price--Chappell, Mabatah, Nash and Price each also competed on the ITA summer college circuit, with Chappell, Mabatah and Price joining Nichols in the ITA/USTA National Summer Championships.
Slah Mbarek--In addition to training and practicing with his Davis Cup teammates back home in Tunisia, Mbarek competed in three different Futures tournaments during the month of June. His summer was highlighted by a pair of singles victories over players with ATP world rankings. He downed ATP No. 867-ranked Jiri Krkoska in the Round of 32 at the Tunisia F2 Futures tournament in mid-June one week following a big win over Wael Kilani, a fellow Tunisian who finished last spring rated No. 123 in the ITA college rankings while competing for South Florida. The two wins helped Mbarek earn an ATP world ranking of his own by the end of the summer.
Emanuel Brighiu--Brighiu participated in two Futures tournaments in his home nation of Romania in early June and late July. He reached the singles Round of 16 at the Romania F8 Futures event with four consecutive victories, including a win over an ATP-rated opponent in the Round of 32. Like Mbarek, Brighiu also jumped into the ATP world rankings with his summer performance.
Marius-Adrian Cirstea--An incoming freshman for this season's edition of the Horned Frogs, Cirstea competed extensively on the Futures circuit in his home country of Romania during the summer. He beat four players listed among the ATP world rankings on the circuit and advanced to the quarterfinals of the Romania F8 Futures event, a clay-court tournament, in early July.
TCU returns to practice this fall on Aug. 29. The team's individual tournament season begins in Waco, Texas, with the HEB Baylor Invitational held Sept. 25-27.
Players Mentioned
