Men’s tennis concludes play at ITA All-American Championships

TULSA, Okla. – Auburn’s Billy Blaydes and Will Nolan earned a spot in the doubles main draw after picking up four victories in the prequalifying and qualifying rounds at the ITA All-American Championships this week in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

“Billy [Blaydes] and Will [Nolan] had a great run through prequalifying and qualifying playing some high level doubles,” Auburn head coach Bobby Reynolds said on Thursday. “It’s a partnership that hasn’t teamed up together since last fall, so it was nice to see them gel very well together. Doubles is about the relationship between the partners and being able to complement each other on court with strengths and weaknesses. I look forward to getting back on the practice courts and developing in areas that will pay off for the remainder of fall and into the spring.”

Blaydes and Nolan began their run in the prequalifying round, where they earned a couple of straight set victories. The Tiger duo then won a tight match against NC State’s No. 73 Braden Shick and Fons Van Sambeek in a tiebreaker to start the doubles qualifying round on Monday.

Blaydes and Nolan earned another victory over 31^st ranked Sebastian Gorzny and Lucas Brown of Texas by a 6-2, 6-4 score on Tuesday. The win, which marked the highest ranked doubles victory in both Tigers’ careers, qualified the pair for the doubles main draw. On Wednesday, Blaydes and Nolan were defeated in the opening round of the main draw by Togan Tokac and Giulio Perego of Texas A&M, the third-ranked doubles team in the nation.

Nicholas Heng picked up a couple of singles wins during the prequalifying rounds. Heng took down Duke’s Teddy Truwit and Ole Miss’ Loan Lestir in straight sets to move into the singles qualifying round. Brown ended Heng’s run with a win in the first round of qualifiers.

Up next on the fall schedule for the Tigers is the SEC/Big 12 Challenge, which will be played Oct. 4-6 in Waco, Texas. Auburn will also have representation in the Louisville ITF 25K professional event beginning on Oct. 8 in Louisville, Kentucky.

 

 

Saturday Results:

Nicholas Heng (AUB) def. Teddy Truwit (DUKE) 6-2, 6-2

Billy Blaydes (AUB) def. Adam Bojkovic (TUL) 6-2, 3-6, 6-3

William Mroz (ILL) def. Will Nolan (AUB) 6-4, 6-2

Billy Blaydes/Will Nolan (AUB) def. Radomir Tomic/Michal Novansky (MSST) 7-6 (3), 6-3

 

Sunday Results:

Nicholas Heng (AUB) def. Georgia Samaha (UNM) 7-6 (6), 6-7 (7), 6-3

#124 Lucas Brown (TEX) def. Billy Blaydes (AUB) 7-5, 6-3

Will Nolan (AUB) def. Gabriel Castillo-Sanchez (CHAT) 6-2, 6-4

Nicholas Heng (AUB) def. Loan Lestir (MISS) 6-1, 6-4

Billy Blaydes/Will Nolan (AUB) def. #63 Maxime St-Hilaire/Frank Thompson (VT) 6-4, 7-5

 

Monday Results:

#124 Lucas Brown (TEX) def. Nicholas Heng (AUB) 6-4, 6-2

Billy Blaydes/Will Nolan (AUB) def. #73 Braden Shick/Fons Van Sambeek (NCST) 6-4, 6-7 (1), [10-6]

 

Tuesday Results:

Manfredi Graziani (PENN) def. Nicholas Heng (AUB) 6-3, 6-2

Billy Blaydes/Will Nolan (AUB) def. #31 Sebastian Gorzny/Lucas Brown (TEX) 6-2, 6-4

 

Wednesday Results:

#3 Togan Tokac/Giulio Perego (TAMU) def. Billy Blaydes/Will Nolan (AUB) 6-3, 6-4

 

Thursday Results:

#18 Andrii Zimnokh/Zach Foster (BAMA) def. Billy Blaydes/Will Nolan (AUB) 6-3, 6-3