SAN DIEGO, Calif., – Mississippi State is one of only two Southeastern Conference schools to have players competing in both singles and doubles at the ITA Fall National Championships this week.
Ironically, the Bulldogs meet that other SEC school on Wednesday when Carles Hernandez and Nemanja Malesevic collide with Georgia’s 18th-ranked doubles duo of Trent Bryde and Philip Henning at 5:30 p.m. CT.
“It was a big goal of ours to go to Fall Nationals,” Malesevic said. “I told Carles, ‘let’s not be tourists there. Let’s go and win some matches and work’. I think it’s a pretty good opportunity for us.”
Malesevic owns a doubles victory against Bryde and Henning, earning a 7-6(5) win with then partner Davide Tortora in Starkville on March 6.
Malesevic has also taken the court against his singles’ opponent as well. The 52nd-ranked junior meets No. 40 Max Basing of Stanford on Wednesday at 10 a.m. The two squared off in the first round of the 2022 Cambridge Regional with Basing eking out a 6-3, 7-5 victory.
“It’s a good opportunity because there are going to be a lot of good players and that’s what we’re looking for in the fall, strong matches,” Malesevic said. “I think right now I’m on a good path and it’s pretty clear what I have to do to get better.”
MSU is among 17 programs that have players participating in both singles and doubles at the Barnes Tennis Center this week. Hernandez and Malesevic are the first Bulldogs to compete at the ITA Fall National Championships since Giovanni Oradini and Gregor Ramskogler qualified in 2019.
“I consider this a reward,” Hernandez said. “I’ve been playing pretty good and pretty consistent throughout the whole fall. I’ve been working very hard and I take this as some fruit, a little reward after all this hard work.”
For more information on the Bulldog men’s tennis program, visit HailState.com or search for “HailStateMT” on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
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