April 25, 2018
AUBURN, Ala. - Auburn opened SEC men's tennis tournament play with a 4-0 loss to No. 50 Alabama Wednesday afternoon at the Alabama Tennis Stadium in Tuscaloosa.
After three close matches, Alabama won the doubles point with victories on courts two and three. In singles, the Crimson Tide got wins from Patrick Kaukovalta on court two, from Alexey Nesterov on court five and from Mazen Osama on court one to clinch the team win.
Auburn finishes the season 12-18 overall; Alabama is now 17-11 and will face No. 5-seed Kentucky (No. 24, 14-10 overall) Thursday at 4 p.m. Individual bids to the NCAA championships will be announced May 1.
#50 Alabama 4, Auburn 0
Singles
#18 Mazen Osama (UA) def. #85 Matteo De Vincentis (AU) 6-3, 6-3
Patrick Kaukovalta (UA) def. Edward Nguyen (AU) 6-2, 6-0
Olle Thestrup (AU) v Thibault Cancel (UA) 4-6, 2-2 unfinished
Tad Maclean (AU) v Edson Ortiz (UA) 5-7, 0-2 unfinished
Alexey Nesterov (UA) def. Brandon Laubser (AU) 6-0, 6-1
Lorenzo Rodriguez (AU) v Zhe Zhou (UA) 6-6 unfinished
Doubles
Maclean/Thestrup (AU) v #37 Ortiz/Osama (UA) 5-5 unfinished
Cancel/Nesterov (UA) def. Nguyen/Diego Chavarria (AU) 6-3
Kaukovalta/Zhou (UA) def. DeVincentis/Rodriguez (AU) 6-2
Time of match: 1:50; Order of finish: Doubles: 3,2; Singles: 2,5,1