WS Chronicle

David Hopkins, who played at the top of the lineup for the Wake Forest tennis team last spring, competed in the qualifying round of the Winston-Salem Open on Saturday afternoon at the Wake Forest Tennis Complex.

Hopkins earned the spot in the qualifying by winning a wild card tournament that was held at Hanes Park, defeating former Wake Forest All-American Steven Forman in the finals.

At qualifying, he faced Matthew Ebden, who is ranked No. 71 in the world and was the top seed in the qualifying round, for a spot in the W–S Open, which is now in its second year of drawing some of the world’s top tennis players.

Playing on center court, Hopkins competed hard in front of many Wake Forest fans along with family and friends.

Hopkins fell to Ebden in a hard-fought match in two sets (3-6, 6-7 (5)). Up 4-2 in the second set, Ebden broke Hopkins’ serve while coming back and winning in a tie-break 7-5.

“It was great to play in front of my family and friends along with Winston-Salem in general,” said Hopkins. “I’m really thankful that I did get to play, I felt I deserved a chance to play here, against opponents like (Ebden).”

Hopkins went 25-16 last spring for the Demon Deacons, rotating in the top two positions in the lineup. Prabhakar had a breakout season last year for the Deacs with a 25-12 record in singles. As doubles partners, Prabhakar and Hopkins were ranked No.45 in the nation and were 8-3 in the ACC as the No.1 doubles team for Wake Forest.

“It was awesome to see (Prabhakar) here,” said Hopkins. “It was really exciting to see him here.”

WFU’s Amogh Prabhakar, Hopkins’ former doubles partner, also played in the qualifying round Saturday, falling to John Harrison Richmond in three sets (6-3, 4-6, 1-6) .

The W-S Open will end Saturday with the Championship match at noon.

Learn more at  HYPERLINK “http://www.winstonsalemopen.com” www.winstonsalemopen.com.