Bulldogs Complete Day One Of Main Draw At All-Americans

Thursday, October 6

Tulsa, Okla.

All Day

Mississippi State

ITA All-American Championships

Bulldog Tennis Set To Host #9 Georgia Sunday

Bulldogs Complete Day One Of Main Draw At All-Americans

October 07, 2011 | Men's Tennis

By: hailstate.com

TULSA, Okla. - Mississippi State's men's tennis team completed their first day of action in the main draw at the ITA All-American Championships Thursday, with a first round victory from 73rd-ranked James Chaudry highlighting the day.

In the opening round of main draw singles action, Chaudry squared off against California's Nick Andrews, ranked #45 in the ITA preseason polls. In an easy two-setter, Chaudry took down his Golden Bear foe 6-1, 6-2 to advance to the second round of the main draw. In his second round bout, Chaudry took on 11th-ranked Gonzalo Escobar of Texas Tech. Battling to three sets, Chaudry fell 6-4, 6-7(4), 6-4, ending a successful week that saw him win three matches just to qualify for the main draw.

Also in the main draw for State was 27th-ranked Bulldog George Coupland, who faced the #5 seed in 6th-ranked Will Spencer of Georgia. However, Spencer proved too much as Coupland fell in two sets 6-3, 6-2. #46 Malte Stropp of MSU fell to the #6 seed in Illinois' 7th-ranked Dennis Nevolo 6-1, 6-1. Mississippi State's Louis Cant, ranked 36th in ITA's preseason polls, took on Georgy Batrakov of BYU. After falling in the first set, Cant fought to keep the match alive as he went to a tiebreaker. However, Batrakov prevailed 6-4, 7-6(7) mark to take the match.

Despite the three first-round losses by Stropp, Coupland and Cant, all three Bulldogs rebounded with impressive consolation victories. Stropp topped Harvard's 78th-ranked Jonathan Pearlman 6-2, 6-3 while Coupland took down Ryan Thacher of Stanford, ranked 14th in the ITA preseason polls, 6-2, 6-4. In Cant's consolation matchup, he bested 26th-ranked Carlos Cueto of California 6-0, 7-5.

The second round of singles consolation action will begin Friday where Coupland will take on 111th-ranked Mousheg Havhannisyan of Pepperdine at 11:30 a.m. CT. Also, Cant faces third-ranked Eric Quigley of Kentucky at 9 a.m. CT while Stropp will battle Nelson Vick of Ohio State, ranked #60 in the ITA preseason polls, at 9 a.m. CT as well.

In main draw doubles play Thursday, the seventh-ranked and seventh-seeded MSU duo of Cant and Stropp was upset by #18 Phil Anderson and Jaden Anderson of New Mexico 8-3. The Bulldog pair will play in consolation action Friday.

Doubles consolation play will begin following the second round of consolation matches for singles Friday.

ITA All-American Championships
10/6/11 - Tulsa, Okla.

SINGLES - MAIN DRAW

First Round - #6 Will Spencer (Georgia) (5) def #27 George Coupland (MSU) 6-3, 6-2; #73 James Chaudry (MSU) def. #45 Nick Andrews (California) 6-1, 6-2; #7 Dennis Nevolo (Illinois) (6) def. #46 Malte Stropp (MSU) 6-1, 6-1; #91 Georgy Batrakov (BYU) def. #36 Louis Cant (MSU) 6-4, 7-6(7).

Second Round - #11 Gonzalo Escobar (Texas Tech) def. #73 Chaudry (MSU) 6-4, 6-7(6), 6-4.

SINGLES - MAIN DRAW CONSOLATION
First Round - #36 Cant (MSU) def. #26 Carlos Cueto (California) 6-0, 7-5; #46 Stropp (MSU) def. #78 Jonathan Pearlman (Harvard) 6-2, 6-3; #27 Coupland (MSU) def. #14 Ryan Thacher (Stanford) 6-2, 6-4.

DOUBLES - MAIN DRAW
First Round - #18 Phil Anderson/Jaden Anderson (New Mexico) def. #7 Louis Cant/Malte Stropp (MSU) (7) 8-3.

Numbers preceding names indicate current national rankings; seedings in parentheses