TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The Florida State men’s tennis team hosted the ITA Southeast Regional Championships at Scott Speicher Memorial Tennis Center from October 20-24. Antoine Cornut-Chauvinc advanced to the singles final which qualified him for the ITA Fall Championships in November.
“We followed up the Tulsa event with having some more strong showings this week,” head coach Dwayne Hutlquist said. “I’m pleased that Antoine will make it into the main draw at Fall Championships in San Diego. We’re looking forward to him going out there to compete against the best 32 players in the country.”
Cornut-Chauvinc continued his success in ITA tournaments this fall with his stellar performance at regionals. On his way to the finals, seventh-seeded Cornut-Chauvinc defeated the No. 2 seed in the tournament, Dan Martin from Miami, who is currently ranked 38th in the country.
His experience showed in difficult matches, including a first-set sweep of Jonah Braswell from Florida in the semifinals. After winning five straight matches, Cornut-Chauvinc fell in a tight match against ninth-seeded Blake Croyder from Georgia.
Sophomore Youcef Rihane also had an excellent showing at the regional tournament, advancing to the singles semifinals. Rihane beat two higher seeded opponents in Nate Bonetto from Florida (No. 4) and Teo Giusca from Georgia (No. 5). Both of these players are currently ranked in the ITA national rankings at No. 91 and No. 93, respectively.
Rihane demonstrated his ability to keep fighting in tough matches as he climbed back from 0-40 to win the game and eventually win the second set against Giusca.
“Youcef really showed that he’s making some great strides and improving as a sophomore this year,” Hultquist added.
Florida State was the only school with three players competing in the main draw singles quarterfinals. Andy Petrovic, the eighth seed in the tournament, earned three straight-set victories to reach the quarterfinals.
“If you look back through the draw, we were the only team to have two in the semifinals, only team to have three in the quarterfinals, and the only team to have four in the round of 16,” Hultquist explained. “I thought as a team we played well and had some significant wins along the way.”
Sophomore JB Bernard had a successful showing in the singles back draw, reaching the quarterfinals with wins over Gabriele Datei from Georgia State and Lucas Dini from Mercer.
In doubles, Cornut-Chauvinc…