Wednesday, May 23
Winston-Salem, N.C.
All Day
Mississippi State
vs
NCAA Individual Championships
Nuno Borges enters the singles championship as the No. 3 overall seed, while he and Strahinja Rakic (left) are the top seed in the doubles draw.
Bulldog Tennis Trio Set To Open NCAA Individual Championships
May 22, 2018 | Men's Tennis
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – With the 2018 team slate in the books for the Mississippi State men's tennis team, a trio of Bulldogs are set to begin play in the 2018 NCAA Singles and Doubles Championships at the Wake Forest Tennis Complex in Winston-Salem, N.C.
This season marks the first since 2013 that State has had multiple singles bids, with Nuno Borges entering as the No. 3 overall seed and Giovanni Oradini earning an at-large bid. Borges teams up with Strahinja Rakic to form the top seed in the national doubles draw, which begins Thursday.
The NCAA Individual Championships feature the top 64 singles players and top 32 doubles duos in a tournament setting to determine the nation's best.
All matches will feature a best-of-three-sets format. Like the regular-season, no-ad scoring and a seven-point tiebreaker at six-games-all will be used. Unlike the regular season, doubles will not only feature more than one set, but a potential third set would be decided by a 10-point match supertiebreaker.
Action begins Wednesday morning, with MSU's 23rd-ranked Giovanni Oradini set to take the court at 11 a.m. ET against Stanford's ninth-ranked Tom Fawcett, who is a 9-16 alphabetical seed. Oradini, who entered the field via an at-large bid (the first of his career), leads the Bulldogs with a 31-11 singles mark and enters Wednesday having won six singles matches in a row and 13 of his last 15. Fawcett, on the other hand, has won six of his last seven matches. He led the Cardinal from the No. 1 singles spot, holding a 20-5 overall mark (11-4 in dual matches). He reached the NCAA semifinals in last season's singles championship in Athens, Ga.
Later Wednesday, MSU's two-time All-American and 2017 NCAA singles semifinalist Borges is set to continue his success in individual play, taking on UCLA's Keegan Smith, who is ranked 56th nationally, in the first round. The two-time SEC Player of the Year Borges has once again been a leader in the Bulldog lineup, holding a 23-6 mark in 2017-18. In his last national tournament in the fall, Borges downed six ranked foes—all in straight sets—en route to capturing the 2017 ITA National Fall Championships' singles crown. Smith has been a valuable piece of the Bruin lineup, playing at the No. 3 singles position as a freshman in 2018. He leads UCLA with a 40-6 mark (25-2 in dual matches), with a 17-2 record at No. 3 singles. He has won 17 matches in a row.
In doubles, which begins Thursday, Borges will team up with Rakic to form the nation's top-seeded doubles tandem. In that draw, the Bulldog duo will square off against Louisville's 18th-ranked Chris Morin-Kougoucheff and Parker Wynn in their opener, with match time to be determined.
Tickets
Tickets for the 2018 NCAA Tennis Championships can be purchased through the Wake Forest ticket office.
Live Video/Stats
All matches at the Wake Forest Tennis Complex will feature live scoringand live video.
What To Note As MSU Begins The NCAA Singles And Doubles Championships…
For more information on the Mississippi State men's tennis program, follow "HailStateMT" on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
This season marks the first since 2013 that State has had multiple singles bids, with Nuno Borges entering as the No. 3 overall seed and Giovanni Oradini earning an at-large bid. Borges teams up with Strahinja Rakic to form the top seed in the national doubles draw, which begins Thursday.
The NCAA Individual Championships feature the top 64 singles players and top 32 doubles duos in a tournament setting to determine the nation's best.
All matches will feature a best-of-three-sets format. Like the regular-season, no-ad scoring and a seven-point tiebreaker at six-games-all will be used. Unlike the regular season, doubles will not only feature more than one set, but a potential third set would be decided by a 10-point match supertiebreaker.
Action begins Wednesday morning, with MSU's 23rd-ranked Giovanni Oradini set to take the court at 11 a.m. ET against Stanford's ninth-ranked Tom Fawcett, who is a 9-16 alphabetical seed. Oradini, who entered the field via an at-large bid (the first of his career), leads the Bulldogs with a 31-11 singles mark and enters Wednesday having won six singles matches in a row and 13 of his last 15. Fawcett, on the other hand, has won six of his last seven matches. He led the Cardinal from the No. 1 singles spot, holding a 20-5 overall mark (11-4 in dual matches). He reached the NCAA semifinals in last season's singles championship in Athens, Ga.
Later Wednesday, MSU's two-time All-American and 2017 NCAA singles semifinalist Borges is set to continue his success in individual play, taking on UCLA's Keegan Smith, who is ranked 56th nationally, in the first round. The two-time SEC Player of the Year Borges has once again been a leader in the Bulldog lineup, holding a 23-6 mark in 2017-18. In his last national tournament in the fall, Borges downed six ranked foes—all in straight sets—en route to capturing the 2017 ITA National Fall Championships' singles crown. Smith has been a valuable piece of the Bruin lineup, playing at the No. 3 singles position as a freshman in 2018. He leads UCLA with a 40-6 mark (25-2 in dual matches), with a 17-2 record at No. 3 singles. He has won 17 matches in a row.
In doubles, which begins Thursday, Borges will team up with Rakic to form the nation's top-seeded doubles tandem. In that draw, the Bulldog duo will square off against Louisville's 18th-ranked Chris Morin-Kougoucheff and Parker Wynn in their opener, with match time to be determined.
Tickets
Tickets for the 2018 NCAA Tennis Championships can be purchased through the Wake Forest ticket office.
Live Video/Stats
All matches at the Wake Forest Tennis Complex will feature live scoringand live video.
What To Note As MSU Begins The NCAA Singles And Doubles Championships…
- MSU is in its 94th season of tennis, with Matt Roberts in his fourth season at the helm.
- The Bulldogs' all-time highest finish in the singles draw was Borges' semifinal finish in 2017.
- In doubles, one Bulldog pair has captured the title, with Laurent Miquelard and Joc Simmons doing so in 1994. The last three MSU tandems to enter the field have reached the Round of 16.
- Borges has won six of his last nine matches in singles, while also leading the team with 19 ranked singles wins.
- Oradini has won six in a row in singles, and 13 of his last 15.
- Borges and Strahinja Rakic have won nine of their last 11 matches as a tandem.
For more information on the Mississippi State men's tennis program, follow "HailStateMT" on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
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