Aug. 27, 2017
THE FLATS – No stranger to the big stage, Georgia Tech men’s tennis senior Christopher Eubanks will look to continue the momentum from his already impressive year when he takes on Dudi Sela in the first round of the 2017 U.S. Open on Monday, Aug. 28 in the third match after 11 a.m. (estimated to be around 3 p.m.).
The first Georgia Tech student-athlete to participate in the main draw while enrolled at the Institute, Eubanks joins eight players who received wild cards into the round of 128.
More than 10 years older than Eubanks, 32-year-old Sela is in his 15th year playing professionally. The right-handed, one-handed backhand player out of Israel enters the Open ranked No. 72 in the ATP World Tour rankings. Reaching as high as No. 29 (2009) with an career record of 131-180, Sela is 8-13 this year, last playing in the Odlum Brown Vanopen in Vancouver, Canada, where he downed Fillip Peliwo 7-6, 6-2, before ultimately falling to 256th-ranked Liam Broady of Great Britain, 6-7(2), 6-7(10) in a thrilling match.
The Aegon Open Nottingham proved to be the highlight of Sela’s season thus far. During the six-day event, Sela dropped just one set en route to being crowned champion. Sela was also able to take home first place at the East Hotel Canberra Challenger in Australia to start 2017, eventually knocking off then-No. 64 Jan-Lennard Struff of Germany in the final round.
Currently ranked a career-high 322 in the ATP World Tour singles rankings, Eubanks continues to make waves in the pro circuits, most recently making it to the round of 64 in the Cincinnati Masters after downing top-200 opponent Bjorn Fratangelo and No. 69 Janko Tipsarevic. The Atlanta native’s summer began in his hometown when he made waves during the BB&T Atlanta Open. En route to his first two career ATP victories, Eubanks downed fellow U.S. Open wild card entry Taylor Fritz in the first round before knocking off No. 59 Jared Donaldson to make it to the quarterfinals.
The 21-year-old, two-time all-American also received a wildcard entry into the Dell Technologies Hall of Fame Open this year, eventually falling to the top-seeded qualifier in India’s Ramkumar Ramanathan.
Also coming off an impressive year with the Yellow Jackets, the two-time ACC Player of the Year capped the campaign by earning a third-straight all-ACC nod after finishing with a 31-6 overall record and 18-2 mark in dual match action. During the season, Eubanks recorded 18 wins over ranked opponents, including a victory over then-No. 2 Petros Chrysochos of Wake Forest.
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