The second day of the round of 16 came to a close Thursday at the Little Rock Open, but this time around it did not bring an end to Alexis Galarneau's time at the Rebsamen Tennis Center.
Galarneau, a 24-year-old from Laval, Canada, defeated 18-year-old Alex Michelson 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 to advance to the quarterfinals.
This is Galarneau's second trip to Arkansas for the Little Rock Open. He competed in 2021, one week after his college career at North Carolina State came to an end at the NCAA Championships, falling in the Round of 16 to Emilio Gomez in straight sets.
"From two years ago, I've made a lot of progress," Galarneau said. "I just feel like I'm handling the moments and my career much better than two years ago. [That] probably comes with maturity, experience from the great tournaments that I've played since then. I feel really good about my game."
Galarneau came to Little Rock this week ranked No. 259 on the ATP Tour.
The Little Rock Open is Galarneau's 11th event of 2023, and his first time advancing past the round of 16.
He said he doesn't put too much thought into events or matches prior, instead looking to go one match at a time.
"I kind of go from week to week, trying to win every event that I enter in," Galarneau said. "I think I've got a great summer ahead of me, so I'm just gonna try to play as best as I can every match and see where that can take me. I don't want to put any limits on the things that I can achieve."
Galarneau and his doubles teammate Nicolas Moreno De Alboran defeated Ryan Harrison and Vasil Kirkov 6-3, 5-7, 10-8 to advance to the semifinals.
Across the court from Galarneau was Michelsen, the No. 1-ranked men's tennis recruit in the United States and a verbal commitment to Georgia.
The 6-foot-4, Aliso Viejo, Calif., native took the first set against Galarneau, but failed to keep up the momentum needed to advance.
"I expected a really tough match against Alex," Galarneau said. "We've trained a few times together. He is a really good competitor. So, I knew he was going to get a set or try to close out two sets and I mean, I think that was the biggest thing today was who was going to be able to kind of take the lead. All the sets were really even, and then kind of went away from either of us. So, I just got lucky that you have two of them."
Michelsen has had a meteoric rise throughout his senior year of high school. This time last year, he was tied for 1,383rd. Coming to Little Rock, Michelsen is the No. 262-ranked singles player and deciding whether to turn pro or enroll at Georgia in the fall.
"It's amazing. I mean, I remember when I was 18. I was barely at any ATP points. The maturity that he has and the level of competing that he has is really impressive. I think that's just natural for him. I see he's working hard, so he's gonna add some weapons to his game and in Tennis, everything goes fast. So for him, I wouldn't be surprised if he's in the Top-100 soon and really thriving out there."
ATP Challenger Tour
Rebsamen Tennis Center, Little Rock
Thursday results
Singles (Round of 16)
Alexis Galarneau (CAN) def. Alex Michelsen (USA), 3-6, 6-3, 6-3
Adam Walton (AUS) def. Joao Lucas Reisa Da Silva (BRA), 3-6, 7-6, 6-4
Beibit Zhukayev (KAZ) def. Nicolas Moreno De Alboran (USA) [2], 6-2, 6-7, 7-6
Mikhail Kukushkin (KAZ) def. Tennys Sandgren (USA) [8], 6-2, 7-5
Doubles (Round of 16)
JiSung Nam (KOR)/Artem Sitak (NZE) def. Skander Mansouri (TUN)/Rubin Statham (NZE), 6-4, 7-6
Alex Lawson (USA)/Michail Pervolarakis (GRE) [3] def. Yuta Shimizu (JPN)/Yasutaka Uchiyama (JPN), 6-4, 6-2
Calum Puttergill (AUS)/Kelsey Stevenson (CAN) def. Aziz Dougaz (TUN)/Antoine Escoffier (FRA), 6-0, 7-6
Alexis Galarneau (CAN)/Nicolas Moreno De Alboran (USA) def. Ryan Harrison (USA)/Vasil Kirkov (USA), 6-3, 5-7, 10-8
Todays schedule
Stadium Court
Starts at 11 a.m.
Alexis Galarneau (CAN) vs. Adam Walton (AUS)
Mikhail Kukushkin (KAZ) vs. Beibit Zhukayev (KAZ)
Calum Puttergill (AUS)/Kelsey Stevenson (CAN) vs. Alexis Galarneau (CAN)/Nicolas Moreno De Alboran (USA)
JiSung Nam (KOR)/Artem Sitak (NZE) vs. Alex Lawson (USA)/Michail Pervolarakis (GRE) [3]
Court 13
Mark Lajal (EST) vs. Aziz Dougaz (TUN)
Antoine Escoffier (FRA) [4] vs. Thai-Son Kwiatkowski (USA)