Rice Men’s Tennis Recap – Wilson/ITA South Central Regionals Day 1

COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS (October 25, 2008) The Rice men’s tennis team raced out to a strong start Saturday at the Wilson/ITA South Central Regional Championships from the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center on the Texas A&M campus.

Dennis Polyakov, Isamu Tachibana and Christian Saravia joined No. 2 seed Bruno Rosa and No. 5 seed Christoph Müller in the Round of 32 of the main singles draw.

“Overall, I was pleased with us being able to get five players into the Round of 32 in singles and two teams into the Round of 16 in doubles,” head coach Ron Smarr said. “We competed hard across the board, especially our freshmen. There is still a lot of tennis to play and we’ll see what happens as the tournament continues.”

Everyone except Rosa had to go the distance and win hard-fought three-set decisions in the Round of 64.

Polyakov took down SMU’s Darren Walsh 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, while Müller reeled off a 6-1, 0-6, 6-1 triumph over Texas Tech’s Gonzalo Escobar. Saravia turned the tables on TCU’s Ethan Horn 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 and Tachibana outlasted Texas Tech’s David Gonzalez 6-7, 7-5, 6-1.

Andy Wang and Sam Garfoth-Bles rebounded to notch consolation victories.

In doubles action, pairs Müller and Garfoth-Bles along with Rosa and Tobias Scheil punched their tickets to the Round of 16 highlighted by a 9-8 (4) second round win by Rosa and Scheil over a pair from Texas Tech.

There are two rounds of singles and doubles slated for Sunday.

Main Draw Singles
First Round
Polyakov (RU) def. Wiegand (UT) Walkover
C. Wang (RU) def. Khan (PVAM) 6-0, 6-1
Saravia (RU) def. Peterson (SMU) 6-1, 6-2
Zanotelli (UTSA) def. A. Wang (RU) 6-2, 6-4
Lunt (TAMU) def. Garfoth-Bles (RU) 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (6)

Second Round
No. 2 Rosa (RU) def. Zunino (TAMU CC) 6-3, 6-2
No. 5 Müller (RU) def. Escobar (TTU) 6-1, 0-6, 6-1
Polaykov (RU) def. Walsh (SMU) 6-4, 3-6, 6-3
Tachibana (RU) def. Gonzalez (TTU) 6-7, 7-5, 6-1
Saravia (RU) def. Horn (TCU) 4-6, 6-4, 6-2
No. 4 Corrie (UT) def. C. Wang (RU) 6-4, 6-4
Zavala (UT) def. Scheil (RU) 6-3, 7-5

Consolation Singles
A. Wang (RU) def. Schneider (LU) 6-3, 6-2
Garfoth-Bles (RU) def. Stratmann (UTSA) 1-6, 6-2, 1-0 (10)

Main Draw Doubles
First Round
Rosa/Scheil (RU) def. Celedinas/Minkin (UTA) 8-1
C. Wang/Tachibana (RU) def. Escobar/Gonzalez (TTU) 9-7
Horn/Kustudija (TCU) def. Polyakov/Saravia (RU) 8-6

Second Round
No. 5 Müller/Garfoth-Bles (RU) def. Moreira/Delgado (UTSA) 8-2
Rosa/Scheil (RU) def. Hattrup/Wilson (TTU) 9-8 (4)
No. 5 Kutrovsky/Zavala (UT) def. Tachibana/C. Wang (RU) 8-3