University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
ITA Individual Indoors
Schnur Wins Singles Title At USTA/ITA National Indoors
November 9, 2014 | Men's Tennis
FLUSHING MEADOW, N.Y. – North Carolina sophomore Brayden Schnur finished off a remarkable run at the USTA/ITA National Indoor Collegiate Championships on Sunday, topping Vanderbilt's No. 9 Gonzales Austin 6-5, 7-6(2) at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing, N.Y. to become the 2014 National Indoors champion in men's singles.
After claiming the first set, the seventh-ranked Schnur was able to break Austin to take a 6-5 lead in the second set. Austin countered, though, fending off a match point and ultimately breaking Schnur to knot up the second set at 6-6. Schnur did not look back, allowing the left-handed Commodore senior to tally only two points in the tiebreak en route to the title.
“This is a prestigious event, and it's an honor to see my name next to the past winners,” said Schnur. “It does a lot for my confidence going into the spring.”
With the victory, Schnur joins former Tar Heel All-American Roland Thornqvist as the only other Carolina player to appear in and win the National Indoors singles title. Thornqvist achieved the same feat in 1993.
Schnur, a native of Pickering, Ontario, survived a path to the title that included three Top 20 opponents: Columbia's No. 8 Winston Lin (Round of 32), Virginia Tech's No. 14 Amerigo Contini (Round of 16) and the ninth-ranked Austin. Of Schnur's five total opponents, only Lin managed to take him to three sets.
“It's a great accomplishment for Brayden,” said North Carolina head coach Sam Paul. “I'm happy for him and I'm proud of him. He worked hard all summer to get to this point.”
Schnur and the rest of the Tar Heels will be back in action in January for the beginning of the dual-match season.
Schnur's Path to the Title
Round of 32
d. #8 Winston Lin (Columbia), 6-4, 6-7(5), 7-5
Round of 16
d. #14 Amerigo Contini (VT), 6-3, 6-3
Quarterfinals
d. #80 Thai-Son Kwiatkowski (UVA), 6-4, 7-6(0)
Semifinals
d. #98 Dominik Koepfer (Tulane), 6-4, 7-6(4)
Final
d. #9 Gonzales Austin (Vanderbilt), 6-4, 7-6(2)
Players Mentioned
