WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – South Carolina men’s tennis clinched victory in doubles, sweeping all three matches in finals on the second day of the Wake Forest Fall Invitational. Additionally, one Gamecock advanced to the finals in singles of the main draw section.
The Gamecock duo of Connor Thomson and Casey Hoole nearly swept their opponents, defeating Jake and Connor Krug of Duke 6-1. Max Stenzer and Atakan Karahan edged out Matias Iturbe and Vasco Prata of UNC Charlotte, claiming the finals win after going 7-5. Jelani Sarr and Lucas Andrade da Silva secured South Carolina’s third and final doubles win of the tournament, winning their match against Clemson’s Wissam Abderrahman and Matt Pitts 6-3.
In the quarterfinals of the A1 draw for singles, Jelani Sarr fought a touch match against Wake Forest’s Harry Thursfield but ultimately came out on top. Sarr narrowly won the first set after the tiebreaker 7-4, before locking in the win after going 7-5 for the second set. The sophomore dropped his semifinals match to Markov Viktor of Clemson in three sets, 5-7, 6-2 and 4-6.
Max Stenzer competed in the quarterfinals of the A1 west stage, defeating Jamieson Nathan in three sets. The two went to a tiebreaker for the first where Stenzer fell 7-3. The freshman fought back for the following two sets, taking the victory after going 7-5 and 6-4.
Gabe Avram beat Duke’s Gerard Planelles Ripoll, who was seeded third in the A2 draw, in two sets both with scores of 6-2. In the semifinals he dropped his match to teammate Andrade da Silva, falling 1-6 for both sets. Andrade da Silva is set to play William Nolan of Auburn tomorrow.
Atakan Karahan won his quarterfinals match against Martin Mazev of Wake Forest, 6-3 and 6-4. Karahan battled a long semifinals match against Vasco Prata, ultimately falling to the junior. He dropped the first set 6-7(8) in a tiebreaker but managed to rally back 6-4 for the second before losing the last set in another tiebreaker 6(3)-7.
Casey Hoole picked up two singles wins, advancing out of Round 16 in the A3 draw after defeating Clemson’s Wissam Abderraham 6-4 and 7-6(5). He followed up with winning his second match of the day against Ivan Dreycopp from UNC Charlotte in three sets. After he dropped the first 2-6, clinched the next two set wins 7-6 (10-8 tiebreaker) and 7-5.
Continue to check GamecocksOnline.com and the team’s social media accounts (@GamecockMTennis) for the most up-to-date information on the men’s tennis…