Men’s tennis downs Tulane in road match 4-3

Box Score
Men’s tennis downs Tulane in road match 4-3Men’s tennis downs Tulane in road match 4-3
Addi Ray/Auburn Tigers

NEW ORLEANS – Auburn men’s tennis earned a 4-3 victory over Tulane on Friday at the City Park Tennis Center in New Orleans, Louisiana. After dropping the doubles point, the Tigers converted their three opening set wins to start singles into straight set wins before junior Billy Blaydes provided the clinching victory at the No. 3 singles position.

Tulane started the match with the advantage by claiming two tightly contested doubles matches at the No. 2 and No. 3 doubles positions and taking a 1-0 lead.

Tiger junior Alex Frusina dominated his first set over Hady El Kordy, posting a bagel. Frusina then jumped out to a 4-1 lead in his second set before ultimately winning convincingly 6-0, 6-2 in just over an hour to tie the team score at one.

Auburn freshman Hamza Nasridinov won three of the first four games in the opening set against Vincent Vohl before Vohl later tied the set at four. The Auburn freshman then won the next two consecutive games to claim the set. Nasridinov kept that momentum going in a one-sided second set, winning 6-1 to give the Tigers a 2-1 lead. The win marked the fifth singles victory in a row for Nasridinov and improved his record to 11-7 this season.

At the No. 6 singles position, Tulane’s Steven Rice took an early 2-0 lead over Nicholas Heng before the Auburn redshirt sophomore won each of the next six games to take the first set. Heng then won another two games in a row to start the second set before ultimately winning 6-2, 6-3 to give Auburn a 3-1 lead in the match.

After taking the first set on three courts to begin singles, the Tigers claimed the second set on all six courts, which forced a decisive third set at the No. 1, No. 3 and No. 5 positions.

Alec Gaudin of Tulane won the first set over Billy Blaydes of Auburn 6-4 to begin the match on court three. With the second set tied at five, Blaydes won the next two games to claim a 7-5 win. Trailing the third set 2-1, Blaydes caught fire and won each of the next five games over Gaudin, including two games to love, to clinch the team victory for the Tigers.

After the team win was secured, the Green Wave won the other two remaining matches in a third set to make the final score 4-3.

With the win, Auburn improves its record to 17-9 overall. The Tigers will conclude their regular season on Sunday against LSU in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

 

#34 Auburn 4, Tulane 3

Singles Results:

  1. Luka Petrovic (TULM) def. Will Nolan (AUB) 6-3, 4-6, 6-4
  2. #70 Alex Frusina (AUB) def. Hady El Kordy (TULM) 6-0, 6-2
  3. Billy Blaydes (AUB) def. Alec Gaudin (TULM) 4-6, 7-5, 6-2
  4. Hamza Nasridinov (AUB) def. Vincent Vohl (TULM) 6-4, 6-1
  5. Asaf Friedler (TULM) def. Joey Phillips (AUB) 7-5, 5-7, 7-6 (7-5)
  6. Nicholas Heng (AUB) def. Steven Rice (TULM) 6-2, 6-3

Doubles Results:

  1. Luka Petrovic/Hady El Kordy (TULM) vs. #13 Will Nolan/Billy Blaydes (AUB) 5-5, unfinished
  2. Asaf Friedler/AJ Mercer (TULM) def. Alex Frusina/Joey Phillips (AUB) 6-4
  3. Alec Gaudin/Charlie Burdell (TULM) def. Jake Kennedy/Hamza Nasridinov (AUB) 6-4

 

Order of finish: Doubles: 2, 3; Singles: 2, 4, 6, 3, 1, 5