Mississippi State tennis saw a mix of results at the NCAA Championships on Thursday, highlighted by Petar Jovanovic’s advance to the Elite Eight in the men’s singles competition, and advance to the Round of 16 in the men’s doubles alongside partner Benito Sanchez Martinez.
Jovanovic, currently ranked 31st in Division I, is the first Bulldog to advance to the Round of 16 or beyond since Nuno Borges and Giovanni Oradini in 2019.
The men’s doubles pairing entered as the top seed in the tournament following their success at the ITA Regional event last month. Their doubles match against Virginia had not concluded by the time of reporting.
Jovanovic’s excellent form in singles play has led him through Ohio State’s Preston Stearns, Texas’ Sebastian Gorzny and Virginia’s Keegan Rice. The Bulldog will face SMU’s Trevor Svadja in the quarterfinals today.
All matches can be viewed by court assignment via the ESPN app.
Those who saw their tournament runs come to a close include Sanchez Martinez and Bryan Hernandez Cortes, who were eliminated in singles play on Wednesday, and the women’s doubles pairing of Charlotte Kempenaers-Pocz and Gianna Oboniye, who were eliminated in the Sweet Sixteen on Thursday against Leena Friedman and Orly Ogilvy from Yale.
The doubles pair shocked the bracket by upsetting the no. 1 seed team of Maria Sholokhova and Lucie Urbanova from Wisconsin, winning in three sets with scores of 4-6, 7-6, and 10-4.
The pair is the first Bulldog women’s doubles team to advance to the Round of 16 since 2016, and the first to advance past the first round under head coach Chris Hooshyar.
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