Sept. 7, 2017
THE FLATS – After a full schedule of play so far in the 2017 U.S. Open, Georgia Tech men’s tennis senior Christopher Eubanks is set to battle Mike Redlicki in the first round of the fourth annual American Collegiate Invitational on Thursday, Sept. 7 in the second match after noon on court five.
The Invitational spotlights American college players during the second week of the U.S. Open each year, selecting eight men and women to play in a single-elimination tournament. The winners receive a wild card into the 2018 U.S. Open, main draw or qualifying, depending on his or her ranking next summer.
Coming off an impressive senior campaign with the University of Arkansas, Redlicki finished with a 17-2 mark in singles play and was 11-1 against ranked opponents during the year – including topping then-No. 5 Eubanks. He became the third Razorback in school history to win a National Indoors singles tournament at the 2016 ITA/USTA Championships before taking the Division I singles title at the Southern Intercollegiate – refusing to drop one of his six matches.
With just four matches on the circuit on his resume this year, the Chicago native’s best outing came at the Nielsen Pro Tennis Championship in his home state in Winnetka. He made it to the third round of qualifying, downing Alex Lawson and Aleksander Vukic – needing three sets in each. Redlicki’s lone national ranking comes in doubles where he’s currently No. 1,277.
Already with a busy September under his belt at the U.S. Open, being the first Georgia Tech student-athlete to earn a wild card entry into the main draw of the Open. After a hard-fought battle against No. 72 Dudi Sela in his first main draw, falling 6-2, 6-4, 6-2, Eubanks moved on to doubles action where, alongside Christian Harrison, the duo took a thrilling three-set victory (6-3, 4-6, 6-4) from Mischa Zverev and Mikhail Youzhny before eventually dropping their second round matchup in another three-set battle, 7-6 (5), 3-6, 4-6.
Currently No. 324 in the ATP World Tour singles rankings, Eubanks continues to make waves in the pro circuits, making it to the round of 64 in the Cincinnati Masters after downing top-200 opponent Bjorn Fratangelo and No. 69 Janko Tipsarevic before entering into the U.S. Open. 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, ultimately 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.
The American Collegiate Invitational matches will have live stats on USOpen.org. The Invitational will also serve as a testing ground for several innovations, including utilizing a 25-second serve clock between points and eliminating coaching violations as well, allowing players and coaches to communicate between points.
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