LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Junior Sebastian Dominko played the M25 Louisville tournament this week, a professional ITF event beginning on Monday. He started his campaign in the qualifying draw as the 3 seed, needing two wins to make it to the main draw. In the opening round, he got off to a quick start with an early break and hold and kept his distance throughout the match against Breysach, a French player who currently plays at the University of Kentucky. Dominko won 6-2, 6-3 to advance to the final round of qualifying where he took on Chad Kissell, an American tennis player who completed his career at Valparaiso University in 2018. The Notre Dame junior would surrender only 5 games in the match, all in the first set as he won a close 7-5 opener before rattling off 6-straight games to claim the match and a birth in the main draw.
In the first round of main draw action, Dominko lined up across from 3rd seeded Alex Martinez, a Spanish player ranked #575 in the world and a recent graduate of the University of Oklahoma. The big lefty from Notre Dame dropped his serve in the opening game of the match and had to play from behind for a majority of the set. But after a break back and then a first set tiebreak, Dominko secured the early set lead with a 7-6(3) win. In the second set that progressed in the exact reverse pattern as the first he Dominko break first and play from ahead before his Spanish opponent evened things up at 4-4. It would take another tiebreak to determine the second set winner and Dominko would seal the match and advance to the second round without dropping a point in the breaker.
Dominko’s run would come to an end in the second round of main draw play at the hands of Johannus Monday. Monday was formerly #1 in college tennis for Tennessee and last summer reached a top-200 ATP ranking. Both lefty players, the Brit would take the match by a 6-2, 6-3 score.
Results
Q1 Dominko(SLO) def. Breysach(FRA) 6-2, 6-3
Q2 Dominko(SLO) def. Kissell(USA) 7-5, 6-0
R1 Dominko(SLO) def. (3)Martinez(ESP) 7-6(3, 7-6(0)
R2 Monday(GBR) def. Dominko(SLO) 6-2, 6-3