The 2024 rendition of the longest running 3.0 event on the 3.0 tour came and went and boy howdy, what a 3.0 event! The 20thannual Akron Open, the oldest and most continuously running 3.0 event in all of O-H-I-O witnessed the best of the 3.0 best ply their 3.0 trade on the vaunted courts of the Towpath Tennis Center! And as last year's champ, Gunnar, was promoted to 3.5 (during the season as it turned out!), the biggest event on the 3.0 tour was promised to have a new(ish) champion!
Format
Two groups of eight will play first-to-four round-robin style with the best record in each group facing off for all the 3.0 marbles!
Singles Bracket
Singles Previews
Each entry will be broken down by their USTA status, their TennisRecord.com rating (higher is better), and some pros and some cons!
Lucas Cimera ... (3.0S & 2.85) ... LaTuchie ... 2-1
Chris Gnandt ... (3.0C & 2.93) ... Green ... 7-7 ... 9 singles matches, going 6-3 this year!
Jason Haney ... (2.5C & 2.28) ... Towpath ... 5-11 ... mostly a dubs player, this is his third ever tournament!
Diego Hernandez ... (3.0S & 2.52) ... Towpath ... 2-15 with four singles matches to his name!
Quy Hoang ... (3.0C & 2.94) ... Middle States ... 12-10 ... member of a 2023 National qualifying team, Quy plays mostly doubles but has two tournaments to his name, both at the nigh-professional 3.5 level with some solid outings versus some former fantastic 3.0ers!
Leon Hughes ... (3.0C & 2.98) ... Scarborough ... with well over 15 tournaments to his name, Leon is one of the most experienced tournament-tested 3.0ers in the field! Not only that, he has championship experience as well at the 3.0 18+ and 70+ level!
Jason Kucharski ... (3.0C & 2.79) ... Mayfield Village ... Fifth event, he's coming off a vice-championship at the Midwest Independence Open earlier this month!
Mark Miller ... (3.0C & 2.55) ... Paramount Westlake ... 10-43 ... fifth event, he's enjoying his best ever season with three wins in seven attempts!
Chrisopher Peters ... (3.0S & 2.87) ... Towpath ... 1-2 in league play, all in the rough-and-tumble 55+ league!
John Schuld ... (3.0C & 2.90) ... Paramount Westlake ... 24-13 and entering his third tournament event, he enjoyed a 4-2 record in this very event back in 2023, taking out two Hall of 3.0 Famers along the way!
Joe Stone ... (3.0S & 2.55) ... North Canton ... 0-2 in league play, but that's all in doubles!
Sarkis Toroyan ... (3.0S & 3.65) ... Michigan ... 24-35 with well over 10 events to his name, he has singles and doubles championships to his name and even participated in the 55+ Nationals singles event!
Chris Was ... (2.5C & 2.28) ... Towpath ... 6-18 and entering his third tournament of the year ... and his career!
Self-Rated Newbies
Scott Laird ... (3.0S & N/A) ...
Gregory McDade ... (3.0S & N/A) ...
David J Rasicci ... (3.0S & N/A) ...
Predictions
With one of the biggest fields in recent Akron Open history, this event looks to be wide open!
At the top of the bracket, look for veteran John, with his slice-and-dice, net-attacking approach to make a run to the semifinals while seeds 5-8, half of which are self-rated newbies, is a true 3.0 wildcard; as such, it won't be a surprise if either David or Scott take on John in the Final 3.0 Four!
At the bottom of the bracket, tournament tested Jason and Leon look to have the edge, but we're giving tourney veteran Leon the edge thanks to having the most events of all the entries AND the limited game play would seem to benefit the septuagenarian!
And at the very bottom of the bracket, don't be surprised if seeds 13-16 end up being at the top of the bracket when all is said and done as the Quy versus Sarkis battle may determine not just that side of the bracket, but the entire tournament as well! Indeed, with Quy's national experience and Sarkis' 3.5 winning experience, look for one of these two elder statesmen to take home their first ever Akron Open hardware!
Check back later for full results of who is going to add the oldest and most notable 3.0 championship to their 3.0 resume!
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