July 8, 2009
BELGRADE, Serbia — Former University of New Mexico men’s tennis players Graeme Kassautzki and Max Jones are participating in the World University Games representing Canada and Great Britain, respectively.
Jones has teamed with fellow Brit Dominic Inglot, who attended the University of Virginia, for a run at the doubles gold medal. The pair has advanced to the semifinals where a match between Australia’s John Perrs and John Smith is currently suspended in the second set at 3-3 after Jones and Inglot lost the first set 6-2.
The tandem defeated Ukraine’s Ivan Sergeyev and Artem Smirnov in the first round and France’s Maxime Quinqueneau and Elie Rousset in the second round.
Kassautzki advanced all the way to the quarterfinals in singles action. After earning a first round bye, Kassautzki defeated Mensford Owusu of Ghana 6-0,6-1 in the second round. Kassautzki then took down Abdukhalikov Syrym of Kazakhstan 6-1, 6-2 before falling to Dylan Kim of Korea 6-2, 4-6, 6-2.
The event is the 25th overall and comparable to the Olympics with some 9,000 athletes – students from 140 different countries participating in 15 sports – competing in the bi-annual event.