Tulane’s Petrovic Outlasts Shockers’ Minarik, Weather in 4-3 Quarterfinal Win

Friday, April 21

Orlando, FL

11:00 AM

Tulane University

(7) Wichita State

William Kesterson at 2023 AAC Championships

William Kesterson advances the Green Wave on the bracket after Friday's win.

Tulane’s Petrovic Outlasts Shockers’ Minarik, Weather in 4-3 Quarterfinal Win

Apr 21, 2023 | Men's Tennis

ORLANDO, Florida – Tulane's Luka Petrovic battled Wichita State's Kristof Minarik, and Mother Nature, but ultimately emerged with a 1-6, 6-3, 7-5 win at No. 1 singles to clinch a 4-3 Green Wave Victory Friday afternoon in quarterfinal action of the American Athletic Conference Championship.

This week's tournament is being contested on the USTA National Campus in Orlando.

Tulane, ranked 43rd nationally, improved to 14-11 overall with the win, while the Shockers fell to 11-16.

Wichita State got on the board first, winning the doubles point with victories at Nos. 1 and 3.

Tulane's Billy Suarez evened the overall score at 1 with a convincing 6-0, 6-3 win at No. 3 singles. The teams then traded a pair of singles wins with Alex Bancila and Rafael de Alba controlling the bottom third of the lineup with 2-6, 6-1, 6-4 and 6-3, 6-3 wins, respectively. WSU won the Nos. 2 and 4 matches.

That left the No. 1 match between Petrovic and Minarik as the decider, but rain began to fall on the complex with Petrovic two points of victory. After an ensuing delay of just over an hour, Petrovic finished off the match and sent the Olive and Blue to Saturday's semifinal round.

The victory was Tulane's first in the AAC Tournament since the 2017-18 campaign. That season, the Green Wave advanced to the final and dethroned UCF for a 4-3 win in Dallas, giving the program its first conference title in 13 years.

Speaking of UCF, that's who the Green Wave will face Saturday at noon ET/11 a.m. CT in semifinal action. The Knights (11-11), ranked 48th nationally, got there by defeating sixth-seeded USF 4-3. Two of the Knights' singles players are ranked (#85 Bogdan Pavel at No. 1 and #112 Liam Branger at No. 4), while Pavel and Lleyton Cronje are the nation's 26th-ranked doubles team.

The bracket for this year's tournament can be found here: http://theamerican.org/tournaments/brackets/2023-American-Athletic-Conference-Mens-Tennis-Championship/1028, while live scoring will be available here: https://www.statbroadcast.com/events/central.php?tid=1025.

Live streaming is also available here: https://www.ustanationalcampus.com/en/home/watch.html.

Singles
1. Luka Petrovic (Tulane) def. Kristof Minarik (WSU) 1-6, 6-3, 7-5
2. Misha Kvantaliani (WSU) def. Fynn Kuenkler (Tulane) 6-3, 6-3
3. Billy Suarez (Tulane) def. Orel Ovil (WSU) 6-0, 6-3
4. Alejandro Jacome (WSU) def. Luc Hoeijmans (Tulane) 3-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-0
5. Alex Bancila (Tulane) def. Alex Richards (WSU) 2-6, 6-1, 6-4
6. Rafael de Alba (Tulane) def. Luke Bracks (WSU) 6-3, 6-3

Doubles
1. Minarik/Richards (WSU) def. Petrovic/Scherer (Tulane) 6-2
2. Kvantaliani/Ovil (WSU) led Suarez/Jacobson (Tulane) 5-4 (unfinished)
3. Richey King/Jacome (WSU) def. Kuenkler/Hoeijmans 6-4

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