EDWARDSVILLE - Paul Jubb of Great Britain, the top seed in the singles, lost in the quarterfinals, while the finalists in the doubles were decided - in one case, in very dramatic fashion - on day five of the 10th anniversary Edwardsville Futures tennis tournament presented by The EGHM Foundation on a hot Friday morning and afternoon at the Edwardsvile Tennis Center.
Christian Langmo of the United States started a very successful day in the singles quarterfinals, as the number six seed won over Jubb 6-3, 6-2, using a powerful forehand game to subdue Jubb, a baseline specialist. Langmo often went deep into the corner to return forehand winners that ultimately decided the match.
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Number three seed Strong Kirchheimer became the highest remaining seed in the tournament with a 6-2, 6-0 win over Elliot Spizziri in another quarterfinal match. In the other two quarterfinal matches, Cannon Kingsley won over William Griffith 6-3, 6-2, and Rinky Hijikata of Australia won in a walkover over Blaise Bicknell of Jamaica when Bicknell was injured the day before and was forced to withdraw.
In the doubles semifinals, Langmo and his partner, Bruno Kuzuhara, advanced to Saturday afternoon's final with a win over Nic Meister of the United States and Siphosothando Montsi of South Africa 6-4, 6-3, putting Langmo in a great position to win both the singles and doubles titles, which would be the first time since Gustav Hansson in 2017 that a player had done the double. Kuzuhara and Langmo will take on second seed Reese Stalder and Nathan Ponwith of the United States, who pulled out a dramatic 3-6, 6-3, 10-5 win over third-seeded Dane Sweeny and Tristan Schoolkate of Australia. Sweeny used his speed along the baseline while both had strong net play to win the first set, but Stalder and Ponwith rallied in the second set, countering with a strong net game of their own, to tie the match and force a super tiebreak. In the third set, a pair of double faults by both Sweeny and Schoolkate led to a pair of big points, with Stalder coming up with big forehand winners and Ponwith scoring on a stretch volley to clinch the match.
Ponwith, the 2019 singles runner-up, will be looking to defend his share of the doubles title when he and Stalder meet Langmo and Kuzuhara in the doubles final Saturday afternoon, starting at approximately 1 p.m. Before that, starting at 9 a.m., the first singles semifinal pits Langmo and Kirchheimer, followed immediately by Hijikata and Kingsley in the second semifinal. The men's singles final is set for Sunday.
Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.
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