TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Mississippi State seniors Niclas Braun and Trevor Foshey earned two victories Sunday to advance to the singles semifinals at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Southern Regional Championships.
Braun and junior Giovanni Oradini also teamed in doubles to move into the semifinals.
Foshey earned the highest-ranked win of his career when he rallied from a 5-1 deficit in the third set to knock off second-seeded and 14th-ranked Tim Sandkaulen of Ole Miss 6-3, 5-7, 7-5.
Foshey then continued his hot streak in the quarterfinals by rallying to beat Alabama’s Alexey Nesterov 4-6, 6-4, 6-4. He will face Alabama’s Patrick Kaukovalta at 10 a.m. Monday at the Alabama Tennis Stadium.
Braun, who is ranked 109th-ranked, defeated Tulane’s Dane Esses 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 in the Round of 16 and Tulane’s Luis Erlenbusch in the quarterfinals. He will take on Tulane’s seventh-seeded and 60th-ranked Ewan Moore at 10 a.m. Monday.
In doubles, Braun and Oradini won for the third match in a row to advance to the semifinals. The seventh-ranked and second-seeded MSU tandem cruised past Alabama’s sixth-seeded pair of Kaukovalta and Nesterov, 8-3, in the quarterfinals. They will take the court at 1:30 p.m. Monday against Louisiana’s Pearse Dolan and Arthur Libaud.
Also Sunday, the top-seeded and fifth-ranked Oradini lost to LSU’s Malik Bhatnagar 6-4, 4-6, 6-4. No. 4 seed and 43rd-ranked Strahinja Rakic lost to LSU’s Rafael Wagner, 7-5, 3-6, 6-4. Sophomore Florian Broska lost to Tulane’s Moore 6-1, 6-0.
Kaukovalta defeated Ole Miss’ Karlo Kranic 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, in the Round of 16 and LSU’s Rafael Wagner (LSU) 6-7 (3), 6-3, 7-6 (4) to reach the semifinals.
Nesterov defeated Auburn’s Lorenzo Rodriguez 7-5, 3-6, 6-4 before falling to Foshey.
In other consolation singles results, sophomore Riccardo Roberto defeated Tulane’s Akos Kotorman 6-3, 6-2, while junior Edson Ortiz lost to Auburn’s No. 53 Matteo De Vincentis 6-3, 6-1, and junior Zhe Zhou lost to Auburn’s No. 93 Tim Dollman 6-4, 2-6, 1-0 (10-6).
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