Wednesday, October 17
Harlingen, Texas
All Day
Mississippi State
vs
USTA Futures
MSU's Nuno Borges battled back from down a set to take a victory in the first round of the USTA Futures in Harlingen, Texas, on Wednesday.
Photo by: Blake Williams/MSU Athletics
Men’s Tennis Preps For ITA Regionals; Borges Advances At Harlingen Futures
October 17, 2018 | Men's Tennis
by Caleb Garner, Graduate Assistant/Communications
STARKVILLE/HARLINGEN, Texas – After a successful run at the 2018 ITA All-American Championships two weeks ago, six members of the Mississippi State men's tennis team look to continue that success this week at the 2018 ITA Southern Regional Championships.
The tournament, held at the Alabama Tennis Stadium in Tuscaloosa, runs from Oct. 18-23. State is one of 13 programs in the field featuring teams from Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana, and is one of five Southeastern Conference teams represented along with host Alabama, Auburn, Ole Miss and LSU. Live scoring will not be available, but live video for courts 1-6 at the Alabama Tennis Stadium will be available.
Singles finalists and doubles champions of the ITA Southern Regionals advance to the Oracle ITA National Fall Championships, held Nov. 7-11 in Surprise, Arizona. State already has three qualifiers for the Oracle event in Nuno Borges (singles) and Borges and Strahinja Rakic (doubles) and Niclas Braun and Giovanni Oradini (doubles).
Bulldog newcomer Stedman Strickland is set to make his MSU debut at 11 a.m. Thursday against Ole Miss freshman Jan Soeren Hain in the Southern Region's singles qualifying draw. The winner moves on to face Auburn's Tad Maclean, a 9-16 seed, at approximately 3 p.m. Thursday. The final round of qualifying will be Friday.
In the 32-player singles main draw which begins Saturday, MSU's fifth-ranked Oradini earned the top seed and is set to take the court at approximately 1 p.m. Saturday. Also at 1, sophomore Florian Broska will face South Alabama's No. 122 Clement Marzol in the opening round while 109th-ranked senior Niclas Braun squares off against Alabama's Zhe Zhou.
At 2:30 p.m. Saturday, MSU's fourth-seeded and 43rd-ranked Rakic will make his debut this weekend. At the same time, fellow senior Trevor Foshey will take on Tulane's Tim Ruetzel. In the spring, Foshey notched a critical 6-4, 7-6(6) victory against Ruetzel to clinch State's 4-3 win against the Green Wave in New Orleans.
Last season's ITA Southern Regionals, held in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, saw an all-Bulldog singles final between Oradini and Rakic, with Rakic coming out on top in straight-set fashion.
On the doubles court, a pair of MSU duos garnered top-five seeds in this week's main draw in State's seventh-ranked duo of Braun and Oradini, seeded second, along with the fifth-seeded tandem of Broska and Rakic. Foshey and Strickland will also team up for the first time this weekend in the doubles main draw.
All three duos take the court at 9 a.m. Saturday in the second round (first-round byes), with Braun and Oradini taking on Samford's Jack Lyttle and Rossouw Norval. Broska and Rakic will face Auburn's Diego Chavarria and Lorenzo Rodriguez, while Foshey and Strickland square off against Mieszko Kwasnieweski and Jorman Reyes of Southern Miss.
Borges Moves On At Harlingen Futures
Meanwhile, in Harlingen, Texas, the two-time All-American Borges got off to a great start in the USTA Futures held at the Harlingen Country Club Wednesday, taking a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 triumph over Henry Craig (ATP 716). After dropping a 6-3 decision in the first set to the former two-time Summit League Player of the Year Craig, the third-seeded Borges shined on serve, winning all five of his service games to claim the second, 6-3.
In the third, Borges held strong, taking a quick 4-1 lead out of the gate. Craig responded by winning two of the next three games to cut Borges' lead to 5-4. The SEC Player of the Year Borges then held at 40-15 to take the set and match. In Thursday's Round of 16, Borges is set to face another former NCAA standout in 2017 NCAA Quarterfinalist Jack Findel-Hawkins (ATP 813), who starred at North Florida.
For more information on the Mississippi State men's tennis program, follow "HailStateMT" on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
MSU at the 2018 USTA Harlingen Futures
October 17, 2018 – Harlingen, Texas (Harlingen Country Club)
Singles Main Draw
First Round – Nuno Borges [3] def. Henry Craig 3-6, 6-3, 6-4
Tournament seeding in brackets.
STARKVILLE/HARLINGEN, Texas – After a successful run at the 2018 ITA All-American Championships two weeks ago, six members of the Mississippi State men's tennis team look to continue that success this week at the 2018 ITA Southern Regional Championships.
The tournament, held at the Alabama Tennis Stadium in Tuscaloosa, runs from Oct. 18-23. State is one of 13 programs in the field featuring teams from Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana, and is one of five Southeastern Conference teams represented along with host Alabama, Auburn, Ole Miss and LSU. Live scoring will not be available, but live video for courts 1-6 at the Alabama Tennis Stadium will be available.
Singles finalists and doubles champions of the ITA Southern Regionals advance to the Oracle ITA National Fall Championships, held Nov. 7-11 in Surprise, Arizona. State already has three qualifiers for the Oracle event in Nuno Borges (singles) and Borges and Strahinja Rakic (doubles) and Niclas Braun and Giovanni Oradini (doubles).
Bulldog newcomer Stedman Strickland is set to make his MSU debut at 11 a.m. Thursday against Ole Miss freshman Jan Soeren Hain in the Southern Region's singles qualifying draw. The winner moves on to face Auburn's Tad Maclean, a 9-16 seed, at approximately 3 p.m. Thursday. The final round of qualifying will be Friday.
In the 32-player singles main draw which begins Saturday, MSU's fifth-ranked Oradini earned the top seed and is set to take the court at approximately 1 p.m. Saturday. Also at 1, sophomore Florian Broska will face South Alabama's No. 122 Clement Marzol in the opening round while 109th-ranked senior Niclas Braun squares off against Alabama's Zhe Zhou.
At 2:30 p.m. Saturday, MSU's fourth-seeded and 43rd-ranked Rakic will make his debut this weekend. At the same time, fellow senior Trevor Foshey will take on Tulane's Tim Ruetzel. In the spring, Foshey notched a critical 6-4, 7-6(6) victory against Ruetzel to clinch State's 4-3 win against the Green Wave in New Orleans.
Last season's ITA Southern Regionals, held in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, saw an all-Bulldog singles final between Oradini and Rakic, with Rakic coming out on top in straight-set fashion.
On the doubles court, a pair of MSU duos garnered top-five seeds in this week's main draw in State's seventh-ranked duo of Braun and Oradini, seeded second, along with the fifth-seeded tandem of Broska and Rakic. Foshey and Strickland will also team up for the first time this weekend in the doubles main draw.
All three duos take the court at 9 a.m. Saturday in the second round (first-round byes), with Braun and Oradini taking on Samford's Jack Lyttle and Rossouw Norval. Broska and Rakic will face Auburn's Diego Chavarria and Lorenzo Rodriguez, while Foshey and Strickland square off against Mieszko Kwasnieweski and Jorman Reyes of Southern Miss.
Borges Moves On At Harlingen Futures
Meanwhile, in Harlingen, Texas, the two-time All-American Borges got off to a great start in the USTA Futures held at the Harlingen Country Club Wednesday, taking a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 triumph over Henry Craig (ATP 716). After dropping a 6-3 decision in the first set to the former two-time Summit League Player of the Year Craig, the third-seeded Borges shined on serve, winning all five of his service games to claim the second, 6-3.
In the third, Borges held strong, taking a quick 4-1 lead out of the gate. Craig responded by winning two of the next three games to cut Borges' lead to 5-4. The SEC Player of the Year Borges then held at 40-15 to take the set and match. In Thursday's Round of 16, Borges is set to face another former NCAA standout in 2017 NCAA Quarterfinalist Jack Findel-Hawkins (ATP 813), who starred at North Florida.
For more information on the Mississippi State men's tennis program, follow "HailStateMT" on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
MSU at the 2018 USTA Harlingen Futures
October 17, 2018 – Harlingen, Texas (Harlingen Country Club)
Singles Main Draw
First Round – Nuno Borges [3] def. Henry Craig 3-6, 6-3, 6-4
Tournament seeding in brackets.
Players Mentioned
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