No. 19 Men’s tennis downs Charlotte 6-1 at home

Box Score
No. 19 Men’s tennis downs Charlotte 6-1 at homeNo. 19 Men’s tennis downs Charlotte 6-1 at home

AUBURN, Ala. – No. 19 Auburn men’s tennis started Go Wild War Eagle Weekend with a win on Friday evening, defeating 53rd-ranked Charlotte 6-1 at the Yarbrough Tennis Center in Auburn, Alabama. The match featured two stoppages of play and stretched past the five-hour mark, with the doubles point and most of the opening sets taking place outdoors before rain forced the match to the indoor courts at the Yarbrough Tennis Center.

“We have to be ready for things like weather, and I think that’s about mental and emotional resilience, readiness and maturity,” Auburn head coach Bobby Reynolds said. “I actually think we did a pretty good job handling the delays through the doubles and coming back out early in singles, especially indoors. We have to be a little bit more resilient in our point construction and be ready for a fight every single time we step outside.”

Leading 2-1 on the top doubles court, Auburn’s Billy and Freddy Blaydes earned a crucial break on a deciding point to take a 3-1 lead over Vasco Prata and Ivan Dreycopp and held serve the remainder of the match to win 6-3. At the No. 2 doubles position, Auburn’s Joey Phillips and Nicholas Heng jumped out to a 3-0 lead and ultimately won their match 6-4 to clinch the doubles point for the Tigers.

The middle of the Auburn singles lineup was cruising on the outdoor courts, as Heng, Freddy Blaydes and Manel Lazaro each won their respective first sets before a rain delay began, eventually moving the match indoors. Shortly after play restarted, Thomas Kennedy earned a first-set win at the No. 6 position.

Freddy Blaydes won five consecutive games at the No. 4 singles position to close out an opening-set win over Massimo Pizzigoni, then carried that momentum into the second set to defeat Pizzigoni 6-1, 6-2 for his eighth dual-match singles victory of the season.

Manel Lazaro served a bagel against Moritz Muenster at the No. 5 singles position to set the tone in the match. He then took an early lead in the second set before eventually closing the match with a 6-0, 6-3 win. Lazaro finished just moments after Blaydes to give Auburn a 3-0 lead in the match.

Heng started his singles match hot against Andreas Medus, winning five straight games to open the match and taking the first set 6-1. Heng then finished his match in straight sets, winning 6-1, 6-2 to improve his dual-match singles record to 8-3 this season and clinch the team victory for the Tigers.

After the match was decided, Billy Blaydes came back from an opening-set loss to win in three sets at the No. 2 singles position, and Thomas Kennedy prevailed in a third-set 10-point tiebreaker at the No. 6 singles position.

The win improves Auburn’s record to 12-2 this season and a 9-1 mark in home matches. The Tigers will remain at home for the Iron Bowl of Tennis against Alabama on Sunday at 1 p.m. CT. Fans in attendance will receive Auburn men’s tennis tank tops while supplies last. As part of Go Wild War Eagle Weekend, a QR code displayed at the match will provide raffle entries for a YETI prize pack that will be given away at Sunday’s Auburn baseball game against Winthrop.

Live video and live scoring for Sunday’s rivalry match will be available at AuburnTigers.com. Admission to all matches at the Yarbrough Tennis Center is free, and additional fan information is available at AuburnTigers.com/MatchDay.

 

#19 Auburn 6, #53 Charlotte 1

Singles Results:

  1. Vasco Prata (CLT) def. #33 Hamza Nasridinov (AUB) 6-1, 3-6, 1-0 (10-7)
  2. #61 Billy Blaydes (AUB) def. Ivan Dreycopp (CLT) 0-6, 6-2, 6-1
  3. Nicholas Heng (AUB) def. Andres Medus (CLT) 6-1, 6-2
  4. Freddy Blaydes (AUB) def. Massimo Pizzigoni (CLT) 6-1, 6-2
  5. Manel Lazaro (AUB) def. Moritz Muenster (CLT) 6-0, 6-3
  6. Thomas Kennedy (AUB) def. Brett Gloria (CLT) 7-5, 4-6, 1-0 (10-6)

Doubles Results:

  1. Billy Blaydes/Freddy Blaydes (AUB) def. Vasco Prata/Ivan Dreycopp (CLT) 6-3
  2. Nicholas Heng/Joey Phillips (AUB) def. Emilio Sanchez/Massimo Pizzigoni (CLT) 6-4
  3. Hamza Nasridinov/Jake Kennedy (AUB) vs. Andres Medus/Moritz Muenster (CLT) 6-5, unfinished

 

Time of match: 5:02 Order of finish: Doubles: 1,2; Singles: 4,5,3,1,2,6 Official: Donna Jerome