State Wins Nine At ITA Southern Regional On Saturday

TUSCALOOSA, Ala., – Saturday was certainly a busy but successful day for Mississippi State’s men’s tennis team.

The Bulldogs participated 15 matches during the third day of competition at the ITA Southern Regional hosted by Alabama and came away with nine victories.

Of those nine wins, eight were in singles competition and sent No. 52 Nemanja Malesevic, Petar Jovanovic, Carles Hernandez and Gregor Ramskogler all into Sunday’s main draw round of 16.

Jovanovic and Ramskogler both picked up a pair of singles wins on Saturday. Jovanovic knocked off Auburn’s Alejandro Moreno 7-5, 6-2 before moving on to beat Troy’s Carles Anton 6-2, 6-4 in the second round.

Ramskogler also won both matches in straight sets, dispatching Troy’s Noah Martens 6-4, 6-1 in the opening round and then Louisiana’s Alejandro Sanchez Gonzalez 6-2, 6-2 later in the day.

Malesevic and Hernandez each received first-round byes but took care of business in the second round. Malesevic handed a loss to LSU’s Julien Penzlin 7-6(3), 2-6, 6-3, while Hernandez edged Auburn’s Finn Murgett 7-5, 7-5.

Benito Sanchez Martinez picked up an opening-round win against Omar Morsy of Nicholls State 6-3, 6-2 but lost in the second to Alabama’s Enzo Aguiard 6-3, 6-3. Ewen Lumsden also dropped his second-round match to Alabama’s Roan Jones 6-3, 7-5 after receiving a first-round bye.

The Bulldogs’ other singles victory on Saturday came from Patrick Lazo, who prevailed 6-4, 4-6, 1-0(8) over Pasawee Reansuwong of Southern Miss. Seth Richey fell in his consolation match to UAB’s Georgios Nouchakis 6-1, 6-1.

Hernandez and Malesevic also found success in doubles for State on Saturday. The junior duo defeated Tulane’s Rafael De Alba and Luka Petrovic 8-2 to advance into Sunday’s round of 16 where they will meet Alabama’s Aguiard and Matias Ponce De Leon at 9 a.m.

Lazo and Richey gave a valiant effort against the 33^rd-ranked Crimson Tide tandem of Filip Planinsek and German Samofalov but fell just short, 8-6. Ramskogler and Sanchez Martinez also lost 8-6 to Alabama’s Joao Ferreira and Roan Jones while Jovanovic and Lumsden were defeated 8-3 by LSU’s Stefan Latinovic and Nick Watson.

Sunday’s round of 16 singles slate sees Jovanovic take on the tournament’s top seed in fourth-ranked Nikola Slavic of Ole Miss at 2 p.m. Hernandez will also face John Hallquist Lithen of the Rebels at 2…