Orlando, Fla. – South Carolina men’s tennis junior Connor Thomson picked up a statement win in his late-night match during the first round of the NCAA Singles Tournament. The No. 16-ranked Thomson defeated No. 28-ranked Pierre-Yves Bailly of Texas 6-2, 6-1.
Thomson’s match, originally scheduled for 6:30 p.m., was delayed multiple times due to weather, and finally began at 11:15 p.m. on the outdoor Collegiate Courts at the USTA National Campus. Playing conditions were not ideal with machine-dried courts and an extremely high humidity point.
To start the match, Bailly won the coin toss and elected to serve. Each player took their own first service game, but Thomson turned on the heat early, breaking Bailly’s next serve to claim the lead 2-1. Each player held serve for the next three games, but Thomson earned another break late in the set and was able to serve it out 6-2.
In the second set, Thomson didn’t let off the gas, breaking his Longhorn counterpart on his first two service games to blast out to a 4-0 lead. Bailly would only be able to record one game before Thomson broke him again to take the second set 6-1, closing his match out after midnight in just over an hour of play time.
Thomson moves onto the Round of 32 and will face the winner of No. 34 James Trotter of Ohio State and No. 18 Alafia Ayeni of Kentucky on Tuesday afternoon. The match time will be announced after the conclusion of all first-round action.
Fellow junior Toby Samuel who was also slated to play in the Singles Championship, was forced to withdraw due to illness. Since Samuel withdrew before the deadline, his scheduled match will not count against him.
Samuel and Thomson will also begin action in the Doubles Tournament tomorrow, facing No. 10 Ozan Baris and Max Sheldon of Michigan State. That match time will also be announced at a later time.
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Singles Round of 64
No. 16 Connor Thomson (SC) def. No. 28 Pierre-Yves Bailly (Texas) 6-2, 6-1