Wake Forest Athletics
Wake Forest University
Birmingham Futures (Nov. 3-10)
Mansouri Reaches Birmingham Futures Main Draw
11/3/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
By Jay Garneau, Wake Forest Athletic Communications (@WakeMTennis)
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. and BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Skander Mansouri won his fourth straight match and reached the main draw of the Birmingham Futures to lead Wake Forest men's tennis on Monday.
Mansouri upset fourth-seeded Russian Ilya Vasilyev, ranked in the top 1500 in the world, 6-7 (1), 6-1, 6-3.
After a day off tomorrow, Mansouri will begin main draw play on Wednesday against an opponent yet to be determined.
Previously, Mansouri defeated Stuart Kenyon, currently a senior at Alabama, 3-6, 6-2, 6-2. He followed that up with a straight-sets 6-4, 6-3 victory over Jake Faundez, currently a freshman at Samford.
To reach the qualifying round, Mansouri earned his third-straight victory over an NCAA foe, winning the back-and-forth match over Louisiana-Lafayette's Damian Farinola, 5-7, 6-3, 7-6 (7).
At the Knoxville Challenger, Noah Rubin fell in a hard-fought match to 31-year-old Frederik Nielsen, ranked No. 505 in the world. Nielsen earned the slight edge in both sets to win 7-5, 7-5, in the second round of qualifying.
Jon Ho came up one match short of the qualifying round in Birmingham. Englishman Ryan Peniston, a freshman at Memphis, edged Ho 6-4, 2-6, 6-4.
