July 24, 2014
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IOWA CITY, Iowa — The University of Iowa men’s tennis freshmen class — Lefteris Theodorou, Stieg Martens, Jake Jacoby and Josh Silverstein — has been busy this month competing in tournaments around the world.
Theodorou competed in three elite tournaments in Europe the last two weeks. The native of Athens, Greece, paired with Felipe Cunha Silva of Portugal in doubles action at the Allianz Kundler German Juniors in Berlin Germany. The duo advanced to the quarterfinals after recording wins over Fabian Fallert/Tim Sandkaulen (6-3, 4-6, 11-9) and Matteo Berrettini/Simone Roncalli (6-4, 6-4).
Theodorou paired with Louis Tessa of France at the Simacek Junior Open in Linz, Austria. The tandem beat Mitchell Harper/Brian Tran of Australia (6-2, 6-2) before falling in the Round of 16.
At the European Championships in Klosters, Switzerland, Theodorou bounced Mert Adanali of Turkey in singles competition in the Round of 128 (6-3, 7-5) before falling to the No. 5 ranked junior in the world Quentin Halys of France (7-6, 6-4). The match against Halys was close throughout as Theodorou took a 4-2 advantage early and had two set points in the first tie breaker. Trailing 3-0 in the second set, he won four-straight games to take a 4-3 lead before Halys rallied to win 6-4.
Martens paired with Louis Cant in the Belgium Future #8 tournament and opened the Round of 32 with a 7-6, 2-6, 14-12 victory over Phillip De Vetter/Filip Van Duyse. The win raised Martens’ ATP Doubles points to six. The duo ultimately lost in the Round of 16 to Oliver Rochus/James Junior Strom (6-2, 6-3).
Jacoby (Little Rock, Arkansas) and Silverstein (Great Neck, New York) competed at the USTA National Clay Courts Tournament, which featured the top 128 players in the country, last week in Delray Beach, Florida. Jacoby notched wins over five-star recruits Tyler Schick (6-4, 6-3) and Taiyo Hamanaka (6-7, 6-3, 10-7). Silverstein lost his first match to Ziqi Wang (6-4, 6-1) before retiring in the second set to Joseph Haig due to a shoulder injury.
