Christian Kuehne won the main draw singles and doubles championships as Stetson men’s tennis completed the Country Club of Birmingham Invitational on Oct. 25 in Birmingham, Alabama. Kuehne went 4-0 in singles and teamed with Lukas Janousek for three consecutive doubles victories. The three-day tournament was Stetson’s penultimate event of the fall schedule.
Kuehne completed his singles run with a 4-6, 6-1, 6-1 victory over East Tennessee State’s Arenui Luethi in the final. He won eight of nine singles sets and dropped 25 games across four matches. Kuehne reached the final after defeating Jacob Rouleau-Mailly, Matei Varbanciu and Vitorio Sardinha.
Kuehne, Janousek finish unbeaten in doubles
Kuehne and Janousek defeated Louisiana’s William Ribero and David Simeonov 6-3 in the doubles final. The Stetson pair also earned 6-3 victories over South Alabama’s Victor Frumholz and Harold van Raemdonck and Tennessee Tech’s Kai Inoue and Murilo Burckhardt. Kuehne and Janousek finished 3-0 and surrendered nine total games in doubles play.
Janousek added singles victories over Zachary Murphy and Xavier Ferrer during the tournament. He defeated Murphy 6-2, 6-3, then rallied past Ferrer after dropping the opening set 6-2, winning the second set 6-1 and the deciding tiebreak 12-10. Janousek also competed against Louisiana’s Samuel Kyjaci and Samford’s Sebastian Harrison, according to the tournament results.
Stetson gets contributions across the lineup
Gian Durrer opened the tournament with a 6-4, 6-0 singles victory over Murilo Burckhardt. Durrer later partnered with Alexandre Bergeron for a 6-2 doubles win over Ricard Yepez and Linus Rohlin before the pair fell 6-2 to North Alabama’s Samuel Balfour Dominguez and Jip Langerhuizen. Bergeron also lost a 7-6, 7-5 singles match to William Ribero.
Stetson recorded 11 on-court victories during the tournament, with Kuehne accounting for seven between singles and doubles. Kuehne’s 7-0 combined finish included both championship victories. The results gave Stetson a strong close to its penultimate fall event.
“Solid tournament results overall,” Associate Head Coach John Shade said. “I’m very proud of Christian and Lukas winning their Main Draw doubles final. It was also great to see Christian then transition into singles and win his Main Draw singles final. We now look forward to hosting our Fall Invitational in early November.”
Stetson will host the Mad Hatter Invitational from Nov. 6-8 at the Mandy Stoll Tennis Center in DeLand. The event will close the Hatters’ fall schedule. Stetson’s next competition will come at home after the team completed its Birmingham tournament with 11 on-court victories.
FSB Take
Kuehne’s two championships give Stetson a clear individual centerpiece heading into its final fall event. His unbeaten doubles partnership with Janousek also produced three wins and limited opponents to nine total games. Hosting the Mad Hatter Invitational in DeLand gives Stetson its next opportunity to build on that tournament performance.
Source: Original report