GODFREY – Sunday’s second qualifying round in the 19th Annual Lewis and Clark Community College Men’s Pro Tennis Classic narrowed the playing field from 32 to 16 players competing for eight spots in the main draw which begins Tuesday.
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No. 1 Dominik Koepfer, of Furtwangen, Germany, earned a 6-1, 7-5 win over American Matt Mendez, a sophomore at Ohio State.
Koepfer just finished his senior year at Tulane as 2016 NCAA All-American in singles and ITA National Men's Senior Player of the Year—the first in Tulane men’s tennis program history. He finished No. 2 in the program’s history with 171 overall wins.
“I had a good start getting up early in the match trying to work on my match management. This is my first time playing in this tournament and it is a beautiful campus and facility. It is a privilege to compete here in Godfrey and keep learning at different places all over the country,” Koepfer said.
Although he didn’t make it through the qualifying round, Michael Peters, of Ladue, Missouri, is looking forward to playing in the doubles main early this week with Dylan Steffens, of High Ridge, Missouri.
Peters and Steffans secured a doubles main draw after winning the Men’s Open Doubles title in the Bud Simpson Open earlier this summer.
Peters, a graduate of John Burroughs School, just completed his first year playing for Harvard. He earned four varsity letters in tennis at Burroughs, captained the tennis team for two-consecutive years, and helped his team reach the finals at the tennis state championships in 2013.
Peters won the singles state championship in 2014 and was awarded Saint Louis Post Dispatch player of the year in 2014, as well as the Metro League player of the year in 2011, 2012, and 2013, and was named a member of the Saint Louis Dispatch All-Metro team in 2011 and 2012.
Steffans, a junior at Illinois State University, finished his high school career at Rockwood Summit with a 96-9 record, and led Rockwood to back-to-back second-place finishes at the 2012 and 2011 Missouri State High School Activities Association Championships (MSHSAA.) He was ranked No. 2 in the state of Missouri by TennisRecruting.net
“Dylan and I are very excited for the opportunity to play doubles in the Godfrey Futures tourney,” Peters said. “We haven’t been playing doubles together for very long, but have been great friends since growing up together in St. Louis. It’s nice to have a great event like the Godfrey Futures so close to home as it gives both of us a chance to earn an ATP point—the goal we’ve both had for a long time.”
The Lewis and Clark tournament is a United States Tennis Association (USTA) Men’s Futures Pro Circuit event. It is free and open to the public, and spectators are provided with covered stadium seating to keep them comfortable and shaded from the heat.
Qualifying play continues Monday morning. For more information about the Lewis and Clark tournament and to see the final scores from the days’ matches, visit http://www.lc.edu/usta/ or contact the tournament desk at (618) 468-6252. To download high resolution photos from the tournament, visit https://www.flickr.com/photos/lewisandclarkcc/
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