LEXINGTON, Ky. — Auburn men’s tennis players Tyler Bowers and Duje Markovina competed at the ITF M15 Lexington tournament in Lexington, Kentucky, Oct. 12-14, with Bowers earning a singles qualifying victory and both players facing tough competition in their respective draws.
Bowers opened singles qualifying Monday, Oct. 12, with a dominant 6-2, 6-2 victory over Ryan Haviland. He carried that momentum into Tuesday’s match against Rankin Matthew, where he battled through three sets before falling 6-0, 6-7(1), 10-7.
After dropping the opening set, Bowers responded by winning the second-set tiebreaker 7-1 to force a deciding match tiebreak. Matthew ultimately secured the victory, ending Bowers’ singles qualifying run.
Markovina began singles main draw play Wednesday, Oct. 14, against University of Kentucky’s Nicolas Arseneault, who took the first set 6-3, putting Markovina in a position to fight back. Markovina answered in the second set, winning the tiebreaker 7-4 to even the match and force a third set.
Despite the comeback, Arseneault prevailed in the deciding set, winning 6-4 to take the match 6-3, 6-7(4), 6-4. The result ended Markovina’s singles run in the round of 32.
Bowers also competed in the doubles main draw Wednesday, partnering with University of Michigan’s Bjorn Swenson. The pair faced Oskar Brostrom Poulson of Baylor and Nikola Slavic in the round of 16. Bowers and Swenson remained competitive throughout the match but fell 7-5, 7-5 as their opponents secured a straight-sets victory.
The Lexington tournament provided another opportunity for Auburn players to compete in international-level professional tennis during the fall schedule. Bowers recorded a singles win in qualifying, while both Bowers and Markovina gained additional match experience against a competitive field.
Auburn will continue its fall schedule at the ITF M15 Las Vegas tournament in Las Vegas, Nevada, Oct. 26-Nov. 1.
