CARY, N.C. – South Carolina men’s tennis freshman Atakan Karahan earned a spot in the ITA Carolina Regionals main draw with a pair of singles wins in qualifying play Thursday at Cary Tennis Park. He joins four other Gamecocks in the singles main draw, which opens play on Friday.
Karahan opened the tournament with a solid 6-4, 6-4 win over Kim Niethammer of Gardner-Webb. In his second match of the day, the Gamecock freshman stormed to a 6-0 first set over Furman’s Nicolas Dispas. Karahan shook off dropping the second set 6-4 to power his way into the man draw with a 6-0 third set.
Freshman Gabe Avram split his matches on Thursday, opening with a three-set win over the qualifying draw’s sixth seed Diego Jarry of North Carolina. The two batteld to a tiebreak to open the match, which Tar Heel senior won 7-6 (5). Avram refused to let the setback stop him, fighting to 6-4 wins in the second and third set. He fell shy of joining his five teammates in the main draw, though, falling to Wake Forest’s Joaquin Guilleme in the afternoon match.
Friday’s schedule includes main draw singles and doubles action. The first wave of matches starts at 9 a.m. and includes No. 45 Casey Hoole and Sean Daryabeigi. No. 117 Jelani Sarr and Lucas Andrade da Silva will start at 10:30 a.m. Karahan awaits his spot in the draw.
Three South Carolina doubles teams are in that main draw, led by No. 82 Sarr/da Silva, who are 3-1 on the season. Hoole and Karahan team up for the first time this season, and Avram and Cole Henceroth bring their 1-1 record to the field as well.
Complete draws, schedules and results for the ITA Carolina Regional Championships will be post on the ITA Tournament Page. Matches are streaming live via PlaySight.
Under the new format for NCAA Singles and Doubles Championships, players and doubles teams in the ITA Regional Championships can qualify right into the NCAA Championships bracket. The two singles finalists in each region will punch their ticket directly into the NCAA Singles Championships, and the doubles champion from each region will join them in the NCAA Doubles Championships.
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 season.
South Carolina Results – Qualifying Draw
Singles Round 1
Atakan Karahan (SC) def. Kim Niethammer (GWU) 6-4, 6-4
Gabe Avram (SC) def. Diego Jarry (NC) 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-4
Singles Round 2
Atakan Karahan (SC) def….