Sven Swinnen and Manuel Kost were bounced in the opening round of the 120th Annual NCAA Division I Men’s Tennis Singles Championship in Tulsa, Okla., Wednesday.
“It was a tough day for both players,” Oregon head coach Chris Russell said.
Swinnen, ranked 16th in the nation, was upset by William Barker in straight sets, 6-2, 6-1.
Swinnen was in control of the match early on, jumping out to a 2-0 lead. He was up 30-love in the third game when he went wide on a back hand in the corner and strained his back.
Russell said he almost stopped the match because the injury seemed to be interfering with Swinnen’s play, but the Switzerland native persisted .
“Swinnen doesn’t like to make excuses, but I will tell you that if he was healthy he would have won that match,” Russell said.
Swinnen fought through his injury, but he could only muster one more point the rest of the match.
“Don’t get me wrong, Swinnen played a good player, but he just wasn’t able to do what he usually does out there on the court,” Russell said.
Russell said it is disappointing for his top player not to be able to move on, especially because of the All-American year he has had and the consistency he has employed.
In Oregon’s other singles match, Kost fell to No. 9 Doug Stewart of Virginia in straight sets, 6-2, 6-3.
“Manuel was matched up against a very tough player in Stewart,” Russell said.
A lack of aggressiveness, Russell said, may have done in Kost.
“Manu has to realize that if you don’t try to take it away from the guy then they are going to take it from you, especially at this level,” Russell said.
Kost had opportunities in the match to get back into it, but couldn’t convert, Russell said.
“He’s got to be able to take charge out there and that takes a lot of concentration and focus,” Russell said. “He did it at times today, but he just didn’t do it enough.”
Russell believes the experience these two players bring back with them will be very valuable not just to them, but for the whole team.
“This now leaves us a bench mark to attain from now on,” Russell said. “It will help us for the future that both of these guys had successful years and took part in such a high level of tennis.”
The two losses Wednesday finish off a disappointing individual postseason for both Duck tennis programs. The men and the women combined for a 0-4 record at the NCAA singles tournaments.
In other action at the men’s tournament, top-seed Brian Wilson of Illinois was shocked by Rice’s Robert Seale, 6-4, 6-7, 6-3.
Second-seed Benedikt Dorsch of Baylor was also upset, falling to Franticek Babej of South Alabama, 4-6, 6-4, 6-1.
Two other top eight seeds — No. 4 Catalin Gard (Mississippi) and No. 6 Jesse Witten (Kentucky) were upset and seventh-seeded Tobias Clemens of UCLA had to dropout due to injury. That leaves only three of the top eight seeds left in the tournament.