Smith, Conkic advance in World University Games

By News Sentinel staff

Originally published 07:59 p.m., July 4, 2009
Updated 07:59 p.m., July 4, 2009

It was a great start for a pair of UT rising junior tennis players at the World University Games in Belgrade, Serbia. John-Patrick Smith won in singles and doubles, while Boris Conkic won in doubles.

Smith, who received a bye in the first round, used three aces to defeat Phil Stephens of Great Britain, 6-3, 6-4, in a match that took 80 minutes to complete. The 14th-seeded Smith faces Sweden's Alexander Thams in the round of 32. Thmas won 1-6, 6-4, 6-4, over Italy's Pietro Ansaldo.

Smith and John Peers, the No. 6 seed in doubles, easily defeated Canada's Graeme Kassautzki and Mikhail Lew, 6-2, 6-0. They were one of four seeded teams to advance to Round of 16. Smith and Peers will meet Great Britain's Dominic Inglot and Max Jones, who upset No. 3 seed Ivan Sergeyev and Artem Smirnov of the Ukraine. Sergeyev and Smirnov are the No. 1 and 2 seeds, respectively, in the singles tournament.

Conkic and Serbian partner Aleksander Grubin upset No. 5 seed Syrym Abdukhalikov and Maxime Filippov of Kazakhstan, 7-5, 7-5.

Conkic and Grubin take the brothers team of Andreas and Kristian Kuharszky of Hungary.