STILLWATER, Okla. – No. 22 Colton Smith took down No. 11 Murphy Cassone [9-16] of Arizona State 6-4, 2-6, 7-6(3) Thursday morning to advance to the NCAA Singles Championships semifinal round.
FINAL FOUR BOUND!#ArizonaTennis x #BearDown pic.twitter.com/2q90LmiRBk
— Arizona Men’s Tennis (@ArizonaMTennis) May 23, 2024
Headed into the quarterfinal round, Smith was looking for redemption after dropping his regular season match to Cassone 6-3, 6-3 in April. Thursday’s match began with a back and forth battle for set one, with Smith pulling ahead in the later games (3-2, 4-2, 4-3, 5-3) and taking the set 6-4.
Cassone opened up set two, dropping the first two games to Smith before battling back point by point and taking the set 6-2.
As the match came down to the third set, the pair began a gritty exchange of points and Smith fell behind. With the score sitting at 4-2 Cassone, Smith locked in, took the next two games and tied it 4-4. The scoreboard went 4-4, 5-5, 6-6, forcing a tiebreaker to decide the fate of the match. Smith dominated the breaker, going up 6-0. Cassone took the next three points before Smith sealed his fate with a 7-3 breaker win to secure a spot in the final four of the championships.
Smith will go on to play No. 23 Micheal Zheng [9-16] of Columbia on Friday, May 24 in semifinals.
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