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Writer's pictureCaleb Thomas

Men’s tennis wins two regions at Mercer Gridiron Classic

Troy tennis swings into fall season

Troy Athletics photo

Troy men’s tennis team gets hyped up before a 2024 match.

Luciano Alcocer and the Troy men’s tennis team won singles and doubles tournaments at the Mercer Gridiron Classic last weekend.


The event featured multiple brackets between singles and doubles tournaments. Troy won two singles flights and one doubles.


Alcocer won the singles tournament in flight B2 Eastern draw and the doubles flight B Eastern draw, along with Hiiro Sakamoto.


Nicolas Simkin won the flight A2 southwest draw after losing in the opening round.


Facing off against players from Mercer, Clemson, Jacksonville State, Georgia State and more, the Trojans went 12-5 in the singles matches and 4-2 in doubles.


Alcocer won his singles region after defeating Matej Laibl from Chattanooga, 6-4, 6-2. He also defeated two players from Mercer and one more from Chattanooga en route to the final.


After a 7-5, 6-4 win in the opening round, Alcocer never lost more than four games in a set. He cruised to a 6-1, 6-2 win over Mercer’s Esteban Davila Gasser in the semifinalists.


Alcocer and Sakamoto won 6-4 in the final against a pair from Jacksonville State. They won 6-4 in both the second round and semifinals after a 6-3 to open the event.


Although the team lost star player Mario Martinez Serrano – who transferred to Mississippi State over the offseason – freshmen Sakamoto and Henrique de Brito both showed promise.


While he lost in the final round of flight B1, de Brito battled against David Krasner of Jacksonville State, falling 6-4, 2-6, 6-3.


The Brazilian native battled it out with Georgia State’s Rodrigo Crespo in the first round. He ultimately beat his conference foe 6-3, 4-6, 7-5 in a thriller to move on. He beat Aman Dahiya of Jacksonville State before besting fellow Trojan Vicente Arbelaez in a shortened match.


Rounding out the freshman class for Troy was Sakamoto, who advanced to the round of eight with a 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 win against Alabama State’s Lun Obrul. Sakamoto ultimately dropped a close 4-6, 6-7 (5-7) match to Marko Milosavljevic, who plays for Jacksonville State.


Some of Troy’s players will be back in action on Friday at the ITF Futures in Harlingen, Texas.

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