Teen duo knocks of OU doubles team at Futures tourney

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Globe/T. Rob Brown Mac Styslinger, of Birmingham, Ala., returns the ball to Jordan Szabo, of Australia, Tuesday morning, July 17, 2012, during the USTA Freeman $10,000 Men's Futures tennis tournament at Millenium Tennis & Fitness Club.
Globe/T. Rob Brown Mac Styslinger, of Birmingham, Ala., serves the ball to Jordan Szabo, of Australia, Tuesday morning, July 17, 2012, during the USTA Freeman $10,000 Men's Futures tennis tournament at Millenium Tennis & Fitness Club.
Globe/T. Rob Brown Jordan Szabo, of Australia, returns the ball to Mac Styslinger. of Birmingham, Ala., Tuesday morning, July 17, 2012, during the USTA Freeman $10,000 Men's Futures tennis tournament at Millenium Tennis & Fitness Club.

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July 17, 2012

Teen duo knocks of OU doubles team at Futures tourney

By Richard Polen Globe Sports Writer The Joplin Globe Tue Jul 17, 2012, 10:49 PM CDT

They came to Joplin for the tennis. They stayed for the fast food.

In a matchup of agility against power, two teenagers who have yet to play tennis in college knocked off the University of Oklahoma’s No. 1 doubles team Tuesday.

Their match came in the first round of the USTA Freeman $10,000 Men’s Futures at Millennium Tennis and Fitness Club.

Shane Vinsant of Dallas, who did not attend a traditional high school, teamed with Harrison Adams of Austin, Texas, who is one semester away from graduation at AESA Prep Academy. They defeated OU’s team of Costin Paval and Dane Webb, 7-5, 6-3.

Temperatures in the upper 90s were agreeable to the teens from Texas. “This is beautiful. This is not that bad,” said Vinsant, who was home-schooled online and was in Joplin for the first time. “I like it. It has a nice, small-town feel. The fast-food selection is unbelievable.”

Vinsant, who has agreed to play tennis at Texas A&M, and Adams took a 5-2 lead in the first set before Paval and Webb played to within 6-5. The intensity of play carried over into the second set.

“We’ve been playing futures for about a year,” Adams said. “We knew it was going to be a tough match. They’re good.”

Pavel and Webb advanced to the semifinals of the NCAA Doubles Championships last May. Their overall record was 18-4 and they became the Sooners’ fifth and sixth tennis All-Americans in school history.

Even so, Vinsant and Adams came into the tournament at Millennium as the No. 1 seed. “I won state in Class 5A as a freshman (in high school) and played mixed doubles with my sister and we won state as well,” Adams said.

All of the top four seeds in the doubles competition advanced to today’s quarterfinals, and the two seeded players in singles advanced to the second round on Thursday.

No. 1 seed Sanam Singh advanced by defeating Nick Papac, a wild-card entry, 6-3, 6-0. No. 4 seed Darian King outlasted David Holiner, 6-3, 6-4.

Singh, originally from India, was a ITA singles All-American in 2009-10 at the University of Virginia. Even though his first-round match was Tuesday morning, Singh said he knew what to expect the rest of the week.

“At this time of year, this place is as hot as India gets,” he said. “It’s going to be tough to deal with if you’re from India or not from India.

“Skills play a big part, but it’s how you deal with the heat,” he said. “Once you’re on the court, it depends on how you’re prepared.”

The first round continues today, beginning at 10 a.m., with matches that include No. 2 seed Daniel Yoo against Zhizhen Zhang and No. 3 seed Sebastien Boltz against Blake Mott.