Wednesday, May 23
Winston-Salem, N.C.
All Day
Mississippi State
vs
NCAA Individual Championships
Giovanni Oradini earned his first career NCAA Singles Championship victory, defeating No. 9 Tom Fawcett of Stanford in three sets.
Photo by: John R. Cade
Borges, Oradini Fight Back For Three-Set Victories In NCAA First Round
May 23, 2018 | Men's Tennis
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Mental toughness was the name of the game in the first round of the NCAA Singles Championship on Wednesday for Mississippi State's two entries.
On a hot and humid day at the Wake Forest Tennis Complex, Bulldogs Giovanni Oradini and Nuno Borges each rallied from a set down to advance to Thursday's second round matches. Their wins mark the first time MSU had multiple singles players advance to the second round since 2012.
"I'm really proud of Nuno and Giovanni in how they represented Mississippi State so well today," head coach Matt Roberts said. "They played so tough, with a lot of determination and belief in themselves."
Oradini started the day off against a top 10 foe in Stanford's Tom Fawcett, who is ranked ninth nationally and entered the field as a 9-16 seed. Oradini stood tall against Fawcett, taking early leads in all three sets. The Stanford senior would battle back, however, and take the final five games in the first set to win 6-3. After that, Oradini made adjustments to his game that helped him gain momentum.
"After the first set, I began to change up my service spots a lot more so I could dictate more with my forehand," Oradini said. "After that, I was able to play my game and make him work."
In the second set, things were back-and-forth until Oradini held at 40-15 to take a 5-4 lead that he would not relinquish. In the next game, he broke Fawcett at 30-40 to take the set and force a match-deciding third frame.
There, Oradini got off to a roaring start and cruised to a 5-1 lead. Fawcett would not go away quietly, as he took the next two games, both on no-ad deciding points, to cut Oradini's lead to 5-3. Serving for the match, Oradini faced yet another no-ad point, but smacked a forehand winner just inside the baseline to notch his seventh straight victory and his 14th in his last 16 matches. The win was his fourth win over a top 10 opponent in 2017-18.
"I thought Giovanni did great mentally through the whole match," Roberts said. "I was very proud of how he came out in the second set after losing the first. He just made a lot of great adjustments today. He served smart and made adjustments to his serves, rallies and patterns after the first set. That really set up his game. Hats off to Tom—he's had an incredible college career. That's why he's so tough—he put a lot of pressure on Gio and made him win it. He had some momentum at the end and Gio did a great job trusting his stuff and serving it out."
In the second round on Thursday, Oradini will take on Minnesota's Felix Corwin, who is ranked 53rd nationally. Corwin led the Golden Gophers to the Round of 16 this season and holds a 26-8 overall mark, including a 16-5 ledger this season at the No. 1 singles spot. Match time between Oradini and Corwin is set for 9 a.m. ET (8 a.m. CT).
Like his teammate Oradini, Borges, too, found himself down a set in his match against 56th-ranked UCLA Bruin Keegan Smith—who took the first frame 6-2. The second-ranked and third-seeded Borges did not panic, though, and fought back in a back-and-forth second set. Smith held at love with Borges up 6-5 to force a tiebreaker. In the breaker, Borges and Smith traded points until the Bulldog All-American junior tallied three straight points to take a 4-2 lead. Smith cut his lead to 4-3, but Borges responded by taking the final three points to force a match-deciding third set.
The third was similar to the one before it, very nip-and-tuck. After coming back from 30-40 down to hold and knot the score up at 4-all, Borges broke Smith on a deciding point to go up 5-4. From there, Borges served it out to take a 6-4 victory and move on to the second round with his 20th ranked victory of the year. He will take the court at 11:30 a.m. ET (10:30 a.m. CT) Thursday against the winner of Wake Forest's Skander Mansouri and Baylor's Johannes Schretter who were playing late Wednesday.
"It was really tough," Borges said of his victory. "He started very clean, especially on his returns. I had to step up on my service games and hope he gives me some free points on his serve. He didn't really give me many in the second set, but I took advantage of a few in the tiebreaker. I just had to wait for him to give me a couple of points to get a break. I took the chance he gave me and finished it out in the third. I felt really good there, mentally, and I think I can take that to the next match."
Roberts noted Borges' mental toughness throughout the match, despite dropping the first set.
"I was very pleased with Nuno's mental toughness today, Roberts said. "One of our challenges for Nuno today was to play with a lot of intensity and to push himself in those moments with the energy that he needs. He did a great job uplifting himself on the big moments and he executed really well down the stretch. He was so mentally tough to handle Keegan Smith's huge game and the pressure it puts on you."
The 32-team NCAA Doubles Championships also begins Thursday, where Borges will team up with MSU junior Strahinja 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 set for 4 p.m. ET (3 p.m. CT).
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.
MSU In The 2018 NCAA Singles & Doubles Championships
May 23, 2018 – Winston-Salem, N.C. (Wake Forest Tennis Complex)
Singles
First Round– #23 Giovanni Oradini (MSU) def. #9 Tom Fawcett [9-16] (Stanford) 3-6, 6-4, 6-3; #2 Nuno Borges [3] (MSU) def. #56 Keegan Smith (UCLA) 2-6, 7-6(3), 6-4.
ITA National rankings precede player names; tournament seeding in brackets
For more information on the Mississippi State men's tennis program, follow "HailStateMT" on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
On a hot and humid day at the Wake Forest Tennis Complex, Bulldogs Giovanni Oradini and Nuno Borges each rallied from a set down to advance to Thursday's second round matches. Their wins mark the first time MSU had multiple singles players advance to the second round since 2012.
"I'm really proud of Nuno and Giovanni in how they represented Mississippi State so well today," head coach Matt Roberts said. "They played so tough, with a lot of determination and belief in themselves."
Oradini started the day off against a top 10 foe in Stanford's Tom Fawcett, who is ranked ninth nationally and entered the field as a 9-16 seed. Oradini stood tall against Fawcett, taking early leads in all three sets. The Stanford senior would battle back, however, and take the final five games in the first set to win 6-3. After that, Oradini made adjustments to his game that helped him gain momentum.
"After the first set, I began to change up my service spots a lot more so I could dictate more with my forehand," Oradini said. "After that, I was able to play my game and make him work."
In the second set, things were back-and-forth until Oradini held at 40-15 to take a 5-4 lead that he would not relinquish. In the next game, he broke Fawcett at 30-40 to take the set and force a match-deciding third frame.
There, Oradini got off to a roaring start and cruised to a 5-1 lead. Fawcett would not go away quietly, as he took the next two games, both on no-ad deciding points, to cut Oradini's lead to 5-3. Serving for the match, Oradini faced yet another no-ad point, but smacked a forehand winner just inside the baseline to notch his seventh straight victory and his 14th in his last 16 matches. The win was his fourth win over a top 10 opponent in 2017-18.
"I thought Giovanni did great mentally through the whole match," Roberts said. "I was very proud of how he came out in the second set after losing the first. He just made a lot of great adjustments today. He served smart and made adjustments to his serves, rallies and patterns after the first set. That really set up his game. Hats off to Tom—he's had an incredible college career. That's why he's so tough—he put a lot of pressure on Gio and made him win it. He had some momentum at the end and Gio did a great job trusting his stuff and serving it out."
In the second round on Thursday, Oradini will take on Minnesota's Felix Corwin, who is ranked 53rd nationally. Corwin led the Golden Gophers to the Round of 16 this season and holds a 26-8 overall mark, including a 16-5 ledger this season at the No. 1 singles spot. Match time between Oradini and Corwin is set for 9 a.m. ET (8 a.m. CT).
Like his teammate Oradini, Borges, too, found himself down a set in his match against 56th-ranked UCLA Bruin Keegan Smith—who took the first frame 6-2. The second-ranked and third-seeded Borges did not panic, though, and fought back in a back-and-forth second set. Smith held at love with Borges up 6-5 to force a tiebreaker. In the breaker, Borges and Smith traded points until the Bulldog All-American junior tallied three straight points to take a 4-2 lead. Smith cut his lead to 4-3, but Borges responded by taking the final three points to force a match-deciding third set.
The third was similar to the one before it, very nip-and-tuck. After coming back from 30-40 down to hold and knot the score up at 4-all, Borges broke Smith on a deciding point to go up 5-4. From there, Borges served it out to take a 6-4 victory and move on to the second round with his 20th ranked victory of the year. He will take the court at 11:30 a.m. ET (10:30 a.m. CT) Thursday against the winner of Wake Forest's Skander Mansouri and Baylor's Johannes Schretter who were playing late Wednesday.
"It was really tough," Borges said of his victory. "He started very clean, especially on his returns. I had to step up on my service games and hope he gives me some free points on his serve. He didn't really give me many in the second set, but I took advantage of a few in the tiebreaker. I just had to wait for him to give me a couple of points to get a break. I took the chance he gave me and finished it out in the third. I felt really good there, mentally, and I think I can take that to the next match."
Roberts noted Borges' mental toughness throughout the match, despite dropping the first set.
"I was very pleased with Nuno's mental toughness today, Roberts said. "One of our challenges for Nuno today was to play with a lot of intensity and to push himself in those moments with the energy that he needs. He did a great job uplifting himself on the big moments and he executed really well down the stretch. He was so mentally tough to handle Keegan Smith's huge game and the pressure it puts on you."
The 32-team NCAA Doubles Championships also begins Thursday, where Borges will team up with MSU junior Strahinja 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 set for 4 p.m. ET (3 p.m. CT).
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.
MSU In The 2018 NCAA Singles & Doubles Championships
May 23, 2018 – Winston-Salem, N.C. (Wake Forest Tennis Complex)
Singles
First Round– #23 Giovanni Oradini (MSU) def. #9 Tom Fawcett [9-16] (Stanford) 3-6, 6-4, 6-3; #2 Nuno Borges [3] (MSU) def. #56 Keegan Smith (UCLA) 2-6, 7-6(3), 6-4.
ITA National rankings precede player names; tournament seeding in brackets
For more information on the Mississippi State men's tennis program, follow "HailStateMT" on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
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