N.C. State star ousts McDonald in Cary Challenger

No. 8 seed Mackenzie McDonald, a San Francisco Bay Area
product, lost to Canadian wild card Alexis Galarneau, a fifth-
year senior at North Carolina State, 6-2, 4-6, 6-1 today in the
opening round of the $52,080 Atlantic Tire Championships
in Cary, N.C. 2018 photo by Paul Bauman 

   These college kids can play.

   One day after Garrett Johns stunned former Wimbledon junior champion Noah Rubin, Alexis Galarneau shocked eighth-seeded Mackenzie McDonald, a 25-year-old product of Piedmont in the San Francisco Bay Area, 6-2, 4-6, 6-1 today in the first round of the $52,080 Atlantic Tire Championships in Cary, N.C.

   Both Johns, a Duke sophomore from Atlanta, and Galarneau, a fifth-year senior at North Carolina State from Canada, are wild cards.

   Galarneau, ranked No. 573, played his first match in a professional tournament since February. The Wolfpack All-American had been 0-2 this year on the pro tour.

   McDonald, ranked No. 193, was coming off quarterfinals appearances in the $104,160 Istanbul Challenger as a qualifier and the Astana Open in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan, on the elite ATP Tour.

   McDonald turned pro after winning the NCAA singles and doubles titles as a UCLA junior in 2016. He reached a career-high No. 57 in April 2019 but underwent right hamstring surgery the following June and missed the rest of the season.

   Like McDonald, Dennis Novikov grew up in the Bay Area and starred at UCLA. In the first round of doubles, the 27-year-old San Jose product teamed with Teymuraz Gabashvili of Russia to defeat wild cards Tadas Babelis and Robin Catry, teammates at North Carolina State, 6-2, 3-6 [10-6].

   Novikov, who lost in the first round of singles qualifying, is playing in his first tournament since February. He won the Cary singles crown in 2015.

   Gabashvili and Novikov, a Moscow native, will face fourth-seeded Andrey Golubev and Aleksandr Nedovyesov of Kazakhstan in the quarterfinals.