Wake Forest Athletics
Former Deac Rubin Wins First Pro Title
11/9/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
By Wake Forest Athletic Communications (@WakeMSoccer)
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- Former Wake Forest men's tennis player Noah Rubin broke through Sunday for his first-career professional tournament title in the Charlottesville Challenger, staving off two match points on the way to the victory.
Rubin, now ranked a career-high No. 317 in the world, took on world No. 263 Tommy Paul and was down 3-6, 1-5 in the second set and trailing 30-40 on serve before winning three-straight points to hold serve and start the comeback on the way to picking up the 3-6, 7-6 (7), 6-3 victory.
Rubin won eight matches in nine days to earn the title. He started his run in qualifying as the No. 8-seed and picked up three wins over Henrik Wiersholm, Thai-Son Kwiatkowski and Joe Salisbury. In the main draw, Rubin picked up a win over Eric Quigley before upsetting No. 6-seed and No. 140 in the world Jared Donaldson 6-4, 1-6, 6-3 in the Round of 16. Following the defeat of Donaldson, Rubin topped Stefan Kozlov, Henri Laaksonen and Paul to win the $50,000 event.
The win gives Rubin the lead in the 2016 Australian Open Wild Card Challenge. In the USTA Pro Circuit's Australian Open Wild Card Challenge, the American man and American woman who earn the most ATP World Tour and WTA ranking points at two of three select USTA Pro Circuit events this fall will receive wild cards to compete in the 2016 Australian Open main draw. The Challenge events this year consist of the Charlottesville Challenger, Knoxville Challenger in Tennessee, where Rubin is competing this week, and the Champaign Challenger in Illinois. Rubin currently has 80 points in the standings, 32 ahead of Paul with 48, after one tournament.
The 19-year old from New York posted a 26-4 record in his lone season with the Demon Deacons last year, helping Wake Forest reach the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Championship for just the third time in program history. Rubin also made a run to the NCAA Singles Championship final, but fell to Virginia's Ryan Shane in three sets in his final match as a Deac. He was named ACC Player and Rookie of the Year at the conclusion of the 2015 season, marking the first time in ACC men's tennis history a student-athlete won conference Player and Freshman of the Year in the same season.
Up next for Rubin is the Knoxville Challenger this week in Tennessee. His first opponent is second-seeded Austin Krajicek.
Players Mentioned
