TUSCALOOSA, Ala., – No. 52 Nemanja Malesevic’s magnificent run at the ITA Southern Regional came to a close in the singles championship final on Tuesday.
Malesevic fell to Alabama’s Enzo Arguiard on his home court 6-4, 6-1 after having reached the final in singles and semifinal in doubles during the event. The Mississippi State junior competed in a total of 10 matches over a five-day period.
Malesevic’s appearance in the singles final qualified him for a spot in the ITA Fall National Championships, which will be held from Nov. 2-6 in San Diego, California. He is the first Bulldog to qualify for that tournament since Giovanni Oradini and Gregor Ramskogler both did in 2019.
Malesevic’s 8-2 record during the ITA Southern Regional was certainly commendable. But perhaps the most impressive statistic for MSU at the event is that all eight players on the roster earned multiple victories.
“Everyone on our team has been working so hard this fall and this weekend gave them a lot of positive feedback to where they are in their developmental process,” said head coach Matt Roberts. “The main area they are improving the most in my opinion is belief in themselves and how to put together game plans to building their resilience as they work through the match. This weekend gave our group a lot of confidence that we are building and moving in the right direction to have a strong spring season.”
Bulldog players picked up 24 total wins in the 38 matches they participated in during the ITA Southern Regional. Carles Hernandez, Malesevic’s doubles partner, reached the semifinals in both singles and doubles while also knocking off No. 13 Filip Planinsek of Alabama for the highest-ranked singles victory of his career.
Seth Richey and Patrick Lazo also picked up their first singles wins of the fall in addition to claiming a doubles victory together. For Richey, a redshirt sophomore, it was his first career singles victory.
Newcomers Petar Jovanovic, Ewen Lumsden and Benito Sanchez Martinez contributed to seven combined wins with Jovanovic reaching the round of 16 as a true freshman.
The Bulldogs next action of the fall will be sending select players to participate in the ITF Tallahassee 15K on Oct. 23-30 in Tallahassee, Florida.
For more information on the Bulldog men’s tennis program, visit HailState.com or search for “HailStateMT” on
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