The Troy men’s and women’s tennis teams participated in the Mercer Gridiron Classic on Oct. 9-11, at Macon, Georgia.
All but two of the men won their first singles match, but four of the six women won their matches.
Four of Troy’s men had a bye for the first round of singles, but senior Daniel Bustamante, sophomore Calum McKinlay and Austin Racine lost their first match. Sophomore Andy Lau won his first match convincingly 6-3, 6-0 against sophomore Sean Hajdu from the Savannah College of Art and Design.
Three of Troy’s women had a first-round bye. Sophomores Sanae Ohta and Nancy Karaky both won their round-of-16 match.
Sophomore Jiayuan Xue lost her round-of-16 match to sophomore Camille Gbaguidi from the Savannah College of Art and Design. Xue won the first set 6-2 but lost the next two 1-6, 2-6.
Despite a hard-fought game, freshman Vaclav Slezak lost his quarterfinal matchup against senior Christian Van der Burgh from University of North Carolina-Wilmington 6-3, 1-6, 2-6.
Lau won his semifinal matchup 7-6, 6-2, but the only Trojan to advance lost the championship 2-6, 6-1 against sophomore Javier Restrepo from UNCW. All of the Trojan men won their consolation matches except for McKinlay and sophomore Stjepan Cagalj.
Every woman except for Ohta advanced to the semifinals of the singles draw. Karaky and sophomore Efriliya Herlina lost their semifinal matchups, and wahile Luisa Ferrauti was able to pick up a victory in her semifinal matchup, she lost in the championship to senior Liza Klyachkin from Mercer 1-6, 3-6.
Six doubles teams competed, and while all three of the women’s teams won their first round, only one of the men’s teams came away with a victory.
McKinlay and Racine lost their first round doubles 3-6 against the team of sophomores Derek Bell and Blaine Miller from Florida Southern College. Freshmen Sam Bird and Marcel Du Sart lost 1-6 at the hands of sophomore Andrei Andrukhou and senior Joseph Bishop from Georgia State.
Lau and Cagalj won their first two doubles matches to advance to the quarterfinals.
Herlina/Xue, Ohta/Karaky, and freshmen Luisa Ferrauti/ Tereza Melicharkova all won their first two matches in doubles. Karaky/Ohta and Ferrauti/Melicharkova both advanced to the doubles championship, but both were defeated in the final game.
The Trojans’ next tournament is Oct. 15-19. For the men, the USTA/ITA Southern Regional Championship is in Tuscaloosa, while the women play in Auburn.
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