July 28, 2015

Christopher Eubanks at the BB&T Atlanta Open

Updated August 1, 2015

ATLANTA – Georgia Tech’s Christopher Eubanks and Atlanta’s Donald Young made quite an impression on tennis fans with their run to the BB&T Atlanta Open semifinals in doubles this week, and it took the world’s No. 1-ranked team to end it on Saturday.

The American duo and brother combination of Bob and Mike Bryan defeated Eubanks and Young, 6-2, 6-4, in the opening match of Saturday’s session and advanced to the Sunday afternoon finals. The Bryans won 87 percent of their service points and never faced a break point in the match.

“They make you hit a lot of tough shots. That’s why they are No. 1 in the world,” said Eubanks, who won all three of his service games in the second set.

“It was great. It’s great to have four Americans on the court with these two young guys and a couple of veterans like us,” said Mike Bryan.

The 19-year-old Eubanks had the experience of a lifetime this week, having received a wild card berth into both the singles and doubles draws of his first ATP World Tour event. He lost his opening singles match in straight sets, but teamed with the 26-year-old Young to defeat Mate Pavic and Michael Venus in the opening round of doubles, and Austin Krijicek and Nicholas Monroe in the quarterfinals.

The rising sophomore now looks ahead to his second year with the Yellow Jackets, who begin their fall season in mid-September at the Southern Intercollegiate Championships in Athens, Ga.

Congrats to @GT_MTEN player @chris_eubanks96 on a great week making the SF in dubs at the #bbtatlantaopen #ATP pic.twitter.com/FENrOEm1eL
— BB&T Atlanta Open (@BBTatlantaopen) August 1, 2015

JULY 31 – EUBANKS AND YOUNG WIN QUARTERFINAL DOUBLES MATCH

Georgia Tech’s Christopher Eubanks and Atlanta’s Donald Young advanced to the doubles semifinals of the BB&T Atlanta Open by defeating Austin Krijicek and Nicholas Monroe, 4-6, 7-6 (5), 10-2 in a quarterfinal match Friday afternoon at Atlantic Station.

The Atlanta duo lost the first set 6-4 after leading 3-1, then fought to a 6-6 tie in the second set, all on serve. Once there, the Tech sophomore and the 26-year-old Young took the upper hand quickly both in the second-set tiebreaker, which they won 7-5, and the third-set tiebreaker, which they won 10-2.

“It’s very special to be playing this event in my hometown and to have won twice,” said Eubanks after the match. “This is top-level completion. You have to take it to your opponents and not be afraid. It’ll be great to take that mindset into our season and tell my teammates that doubles is important.”

Key stat in the match: Eubanks and Young saves eight of 10 break points, including holding serve once in the second set after trailing 0-30. In the third-set tiebreaker, they won five of six service points, while Krijicek and Monroe won only one of their six service points.

Their opponent in the semifinals will be Bob and Mike Bryan of the United States, the No. 1 doubles team in the world, on Saturday (time to be determined). They won their quarterfinal match, 7-6, 7-6, on Thursday over Treat Huey and Steve Johnson. The Bryan brothers came to Atlanta following a quarterfinals appearance at Wimbledon and a finals loss at the French Open.

Young and Eubanks advance 46 76(5) 10-2 over Krajicek/Monroe #BBTAtlantaOpen https://t.co/2x3AzGdXFD
— BB&T Atlanta Open (@BBTatlantaopen) July 31, 2015

JULY 29 – EUBANKS FALLS TO STEPANEK IN OPENING ROUND OF SINGLES

Georgia Tech’s Christopher Eubanks fell to Radek Stepanek of Czechoslovakia, 6-2, 6-2, Wednesday afternoon in the final first-round singles match in the main draw of the BB&T Atlanta Open at Atlantic Station.

The Yellow Jacket sophomore, ranked No. 53 among collegians at the end of the spring season, was unable to capitalize on his big serve against the five-time ATP World Tour winner, who broke him twice in each set. Eubanks served first and won the first game easily in the first set, but Stepanek held and then broke the Tech player to go up 2-1, then again at 4-2. The second set followed the same pattern, and Stepanek was able to finish off Eubanks in an hour and nine minutes.

Eubanks served five aces to none for Stepanek, but was able to win only 58 percent of the points on his first serve, compated to 76 percent for the Czech. Stepanek held a similar advantage on second service points won.

“He was able to counter my pace, which was something I wasn’t used to,” said Eubanks. “My first serves were coming back. It’s something I need to be prepared for next time. There’s tons of video on these guys on tour, so I knew what he liked to do and how he played. I felt like I could use my forehand to try and hurt him, but today it just wasn’t going that way.”

Eubanks is still alive in the doubles draw, however, after teaming with Donald Young to win their opening-round match Tuesday night. The Atlanta duo will play again Friday (time to be determined) against Americans Austin Krijicek and Nicholas Monroe. Stepanek advanced to face the top seed, John Isner, Thursday evening.

JULY 28 – EUBANKS TEAMS WITH YOUNG TO WIN OPENING-ROUND DOUBLES MATCH

Georgia Tech’s Christopher Eubanks earned his first victory in an ATP tennis tournament Tuesday night, teaming with veteran tour pro Donald Young to score a three-set victory over Mate Pavic of Croatia and Michael Venus of New Zealand in the opening round of the BB&T Atlanta Open at Atlantic Station.

The 6-2, 3-6, 1-0 (10-5) victory capped off the event’s College Night celebration. Eubanks and Young, both of Atlanta, used a pair of early service breaks to win the first set before Pavic and Venus turned the tables with a pair of service breaks of their own in the second set. Eubanks’ big serving helped the Atlanta duo win a pair of key points midway through the third set, a 10-point tiebreaker.

They advanced to face the winner of tomorrow night’s match between Americans Austin Krajicek and Nicholas Monroe and Marcus Daniell (New Zealand) and Marcel Demoliner (Brazil). That match is scheduled for Thursday evening.

Eubanks, who earned All-Atlantic Coast Conference honors and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Singles Championship as a freshman at Tech last spring, begins play in the singles bracket Wednesday afternoon (approximately 2 p.m.) against Radek Stepanek of Czechoslovakia. The sophomore from Westlake High School has a wild card berth in the main draw.