Aggie Signees Make Impact in Paris

PARIS, France - Two Texas A&M men's tennis signees, Mitchell Krueger and Joshua Ward-Hibbert, have made an impact in Paris at the French Open Junior Championships.

Krueger, has been ranked as high as No. 5 in the ITF rankings and was the top-ranked recruit in the state of Texas and the No. 3 national recruit by TennisRecruiting.net, has reached the semifinals of the championship in singles play by virtue of a 6-2, 6-1 straight sets victory over Max De Vroome of the Netherlands. Krueger, seeded No. 8, will next face Kimmer Coppejans of Belgium who is seeded No. 6, in the semifinals.

Krueger defeated Italy's Pietro Licciardi, 6-1, 6-3 in the first round and followed with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Frenchman Alexandre Favrot. Krueger would face another Frenchman in Quentin Halys and post a 7-6 (6), 6-4 win to advance to the quarterfinals against De Vroome.

Krueger, the son of Myron and Marla Krueger, is from Aledo where he attended Spring Creek Academy in Dallas and is coached by Dave Licker. He reached the singles quarterfinals at the 2011 Australian Juniors. He teamed with a doubles partner who has also signed with Texas A&M, Shane Vinsant, and the duo reached the finals in both the Italian and French Juniors. Krueger's father played tennis at Texas A&M under the direction of former head coach David Kent. His older sister, Mandi, is a senior at Texas A&M.

Ward-Hibbert from Great Britain has been ranked as high as No. 14 in the ITF rankings. He has teamed with Liam Broady to reach the French quarterfinals. The duo defeated Gregoire Barrere and Johan Sebastien Tatlot in the first round, 6-3, 6-1, and followed with a 6-4, 6-4 victory against Bar Tzuf Botzer and Kyle Edmund. In the quarterfinals, the British duo dropped a hard-fought, 3-6, 6-3, 10-8 decision to Enzo Couacaud and Alexandre Favor of France.