July 25, 2017
THE FLATS – En route to his first ATP singles main draw victory, Georgia Tech men’s tennis senior Christopher Eubanks had an impressive showing in the first round of the BB&T Atlanta Open, toppling Taylor Fritz 7-6 (5), 6-4 on Tuesday night.
The Atlanta native went toe-to-toe with the 125th-ranked ATP singles competitor at Atlantic Station, forcing Fritz into a tiebreaker during the first set. All tied at six apiece, Eubanks worked his serve to his advantage – a strategy that would rarely fail him on the night – winning the tiebreaker 7-5 to capture the first set.
Despite the strong battle early, Eubanks got off to a rocky start to start the second set as Fritz tried to rebound from his performance at the beginning of the match. But after a challenged line ruling gave him a sizable lead, Eubanks regained his stride and again began hitting his mark.
Finally, after a set-and-a-half of play, Eubanks was the first to break, taking the 3-2 lead in the second before capitalizing on the moment and going up 4-2. Fritz would close the gap slightly to 5-4, but with a chance to serve for the win and in front of his hometown crowd, Eubanks sealed the deal in dramatic fashion, toeing the line for a brilliant clinching point.
With the career victory for the Georgia Tech senior, he advances to the second round to face Jared Donaldson – currently ranked 59th in the ATP singles.
Donaldson, 20, is a 6-2 right-handed player out of Providence, R.I., currently in his third year of professional play. In his first round of action in the Atlanta Open, Donaldson downed Ernesto Escobedo 6-3, 6-1 to make it to the round of 16. On the year, Donaldson is 10-12 with a 21-31 career record.
Eubanks and Donaldson will face-off on Thursday, July 27 at a to-be-announced time.
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