The Alabama men’s tennis team picked up 15 wins, three in doubles and 12 in singles, on the second day of play at the Crimson Tide Fall Championships. Mathieu Thibaudeau, Michael Jung and Ricky Doverspike will each play in the finals of his respective draw Sunday. In addition, Doverspike and Thibaudeau and Trey Walston and Jung will play in the semifinals of the red draw doubles and white draw doubles, respectively.
The Tide opened up Saturday with doubles winning three of the five matches. In the red draw, Doverspike and Thibaudeau edged out Patrick Daciek and Pedro Graber of Virginia Tech 8-6. Dan Buikema and Saketh Myneni dropped their match to South Florida’s Thomas Estrada and Lucas Jovita 8-4. Jung and Walston advanced past the South Florida pair of Jamal Adderley and Yannick Yoshizawa 8-5 in the white draw, while Creighton Blanchard and Houssam Yassine lost a close 8-6 outing to Dan Cornei and Tommy Petrich of UAB. Andrew Felsenthal and John Lewis represented Alabama in the consolation doubles round where the Tide had an easy time with Gregory Bekkers and Wesley Powell winning 8-3.
Following doubles play, Alabama took the court in singles where it won a dozen matches. Mathieu Thibaudeau picked up a win in his first match 7-6(5), 6-0 against Clemson’s Rok Bizjak and followed it up with another win against Yoann Re of Virginia Tech 6-7(5), 6-4, 7-6(5). Billy Mertz also captured a pair of wins on the day with a 7-5, 6-3 victory over UT Chattanooga’s Peter Sauska and 6-3, 6-2 win over Vanderbilt’s Nick Cromydas. Two other Tide players picked up multiple singles wins on the day in Jung and Doverspike. Jung captured his opening singles outing 7-6(6) 6-3 over llinois’ Abraham Souza and second win of the afternoon over UAB’s Daniel Moser 6-4, 6-4. Doverspike also won both matches in two-set fashion with a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Virginia Tech’s Zachary Pine and 7-6(3) 6-4 defeat over Alex Emery of UAB.
Four Alabama players split matches Saturday. Lewis won his first match of the afternoon 6-4, 6-2 against the Commodores Vijay Paul, but lost a tough three setter 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 to Mississippi State’s Antonio Lastre. Buikema earned a win against Samford’s Richard Walsh 6-2, 6-4 before suffering a 7-6(2), 6-3 loss to Clemson’s Kevin Fleck. Felsenthal outlasted Jacksonville State’s Bernie Bachino 5-7, 6-4, 6-1 previous to his loss against Illinois’ Meedo El Tabakh 6-7(4), 6-1, 6-4. Yassine racked up an easy 6-2, 6-3 win against Yannick Yoshizawa of South Florida, but dropped his second match to Virginia Tech’s Corrado Tocci 2-6, 6-1, 6-3.
Walston and Blanchard also competed in singles for the Tide, but both lost their first match of the day. Walston dropped a 6-1, 6-0 decision to Samford’s Carson Kadi, while Blanchard was edged by James Moye of Vanderbilt in three sets 3-6, 7-5, 6-3.
Match play will wrap up Sunday with two rounds of doubles and the final round of singles. Opening serve is slated for 9:00 a.m. (CST). For a complete listing of draws and times please click here.
RESULTS
Doubles
Thomas Estrada/Lucas Jovita (USF) def. Dan Buikema/Saketh Myneni (UA) 8-4
Ricky Doverspike/Mathieu Thibaudeau (UA) def. Patrick Daciek/Pedro Graber (VT) 8-6
Michael Jung/Trey Walston (UA) def. Jamal Adderley/Yannick Yoshizawa (USF) 8-5
Dan Cornei/Tommy Petrich (UAB) def. Creighton Blanchard/Houssam Yassine (UA) 8-6
Andrew Felsenthal/John Lewis (UA) def. Gregory Bekkers/Wesley Powell (GSU) 8-3
Singles
Mathieu Thibaudeau (UA) def. Rok Bizjak (CLEM) 7-6(5), 6-0
Mathieu Thibaudeau (UA) def. Yoann Re (VT) 6-7(5), 6-4, 7-6(5)
Billy Mertz (UA) def. Peter Sauska (UTC) 7-5, 6-3
Billy Mertz (UA) def. Nick Cromydas (VU) 6-3, 6-2
John Lewis (UA) def. Vijay Paul (VU) 6-4, 6-2
Antonio Lastre (MSU) def. John Lewis (UA) 6-1, 4-6, 6-4
Dan Buikema (UA) def. Richard Walsh (SAM) 6-2, 6-4
Kevin Fleck (CLEM) def. Dan Buikema (UA) 7-6(2), 6-3
Andrew Felsenthal (UA) def. Bernie Bachino (JSU) 5-7, 6-4, 6-1
Meedo El Tabakh (ILL) def. Andrew Felsenthal (UA) 6-7(4), 6-1, 6-4
Michael Jung (UA) def. Abraham Souza (ILL) 7-6(6), 6-3
Michael Jung (UA) def. Daniel Moser (UAB) 6-4, 6-4
Carson Kadi (SAM) def. Trey Walston (UA) 6-1, 6-0
Ricky Doverspike (UA) def. Zachary Pine (VT) 6-1, 6-4
Ricky Doverspike (UA) def. Alex Emery (UAB) 7-6(3), 6-4
James Moye (VU) def. Creighton Blanchard (UA) 3-6, 7-5, 6-3
Houssam Yassine (UA) def. Yannick Yoshizawa (USF) 6-2, 6-3
Corrado Tocci (VT) def. Houssam Yassine (UA) 2-6, 6-1, 6-3
