Wednesday, May 22
Orlando, Fla. (USTA National Campus)
All Day
Mississippi State
vs
NCAA Individual Championships
Niclas Braun became MSU's 25th All-American in program history by earning the honor Wednesday night with a win in the NCAA Doubles Round of 16.
Photo by: Trevor Birchett/MSU Athletics
Bulldog Foursome Advances To NCAA Singles, Doubles Quarterfinals
May 22, 2019 | Men's Tennis
by Caleb Garner, Graduate Assistant/Communications
ORLANDO, Fla. – Not since Stanford in 1998, which was considered by many to be the greatest men's college tennis team ever, has any program in collegiate men's tennis had two NCAA quarterfinalists in both singles and doubles.
That all changed on Wednesday when Mississippi State became the latest program to accomplish the feat, with Nuno Borges and Giovanni Oradini tallying singles wins, followed by the State duos of Borges and Strahinja Rakic and Niclas Braun and Oradini posting straight-set victories, all to reach Thursday's national quarterfinals at the USTA National Campus.
To begin the day, State's top-ranked Borges continued his incredible winning streak by only dropping one game to Tennessee's 23rd-ranked Timo Stodder, ousting the Volunteer 6-0, 6-1 in just 49 minutes for his 29th-straight victory. Borges improved to a perfect 6-0 in his career against Stodder, including a 3-0 mark in 2019.
Borges, also the NCAA's top seed this week, controlled the match from the start, winning seven of the first eight points en route to taking the first set 6-0. In the second, Stodder got on the board, holding in the second game to knot up the set score at 1-all. After the three-time SEC Player of the Year Borges held at love, he cruised past Stodder to finish out the set, holding on a deciding point to end the match.
"Like the last two days, I just stayed tough on every point," Borges said. "Today, I was much sharper and I started the match very strong. I knew (Stodder) from before, so I knew what to expect. Even though it was a short match, I had to stay sharp the whole time. He made me play a lot of balls, and I knew he was going to do that. I ended up getting some free points and it turned out very well for me."
In his quarterfinal match on Thursday, Borges will face Southern Cal's sixth-ranked and fifth-seeded Brandon Holt, who took a tight three-set decision from Texas' 12th-ranked Yuya Ito in the Round of 16. Borges and Holt have met once, with Holt coming away with a 6-3, 6-4 win in the consolation semifinals of the 2016 ITA All-American Championships. Match time between Borges and Holt is slated for 4 p.m. ET, with live coverage exclusively on the Tennis Channel.
The 61st-ranked Oradini faced another tough draw in his Round of 16 match and came through in clutch moments after dropping the first set to Columbia's 22nd-ranked Jack Lin. The Italian came out firing in the second set, mounting to a quick 4-0 lead, which he would hold onto despite Lin's comeback attempt, finally claiming the set 6-4 to force a decisive third set.
The final set was tight early on, with both players holding serve well to start. Oradini then put away a volley on a deciding point to break Lin and take a 2-1 lead that his opponent could not surmount. With Oradini leading 5-3, Lin held to cut the deficit to 5-4, but Oradini would serve it out to seal the comeback triumph that would allow him to join Borges in Thursday's quarterfinals.
"Early on, I was playing rushed and was trying to finish my points in short rallies," Oradini said. "In the second set, I came out calmer and I wasn't rushing my points. The key for me today was just being calm, tough and working on every point."
In his quarterfinal match, Oradini faces South Carolina's fifth-ranked and fourth-seeded Paul Jubb, who posted a 6-1, 6-4 win over North Carolina's No. 39 Benjamin Sigouin on Wednesday. The match is slated not before 5 p.m. ET and will also be televised live on the Tennis Channel. The two players have met only one other time – Oradini posting a 6-4, 6-3 win over Jubb at the No. 2 position to clinch State's win over the Gamecocks in Starkville in 2018.
With Borges and Oradini's wins, the Bulldogs have two players in the singles quarters for the first time since 1994, when Laurent Orsini and Joc Simmons accomplished the feat.
In State's first doubles match of the night, the third-ranked and third-seeded Bulldog tandem of Borges and Strahinja Rakic were set for a rematch from the ITA All-American Championships with Cal's 28th-ranked Jacob Brumm and Yuta Kikuchi. The Golden Bear duo took a tight three-setter from the State duo in the fall, but Borges and Rakic returned the favor in Wednesday night's battle.
Borges and Rakic cruised past the Cal tandem, taking a quick 6-1, 6-2 triumph in the Round of 16. After being broken in the first game, the Bulldogs stormed back, taking the remaining six games to take the first set.
The pair picked up right where it left off in the second stanza, breaking the Cal duo and holding to go up 2-0 early. That break lead would hold for the Maroon and White, ultimately extended to 5-2 and serving for the match. The Bulldogs would do just that, holding at love when a volley by Rakic fell out of Brumm's reach to hand State the victory.
"We came into the match wanting to get up to the net and pressure (Brumm and Kikuchi) as much as we could to make them uncomfortable," Rakic said. "I thought we did a great job of that. We were both at the net most of the time and they couldn't find the angles to pass us. It was awesome to see us figure it out the way we did and get a quick win."
The senior duo is back in the NCAA Doubles quarterfinals for the second year in a row, a feat no other MSU tandem has ever accomplished. There, Borges and Rakic will face Tennessee's sixth-ranked duo of Timo Stodder and Preston Touliatos – a 5-8 alphabetical seed. On Wednesday, Stodder and Touliatos bested No. 64 Anders Holm and Nicolas Moreno de Alboran of UC Santa Barbara 6-1, 4-6, 1-0(5) to advance to the quarterfinals.
Borges and Rakic have faced Stodder and Touliatos twice this season in dual match play, but both matches were suspended.
In the nightcap featuring State's 32nd-ranked pair of Braun and Oradini faced Northwestern's 31st-ranked Simen Bratholm and Nick Brookes. To start off, both sides held serve well, but a forehand shot by Brookes fell deep at 15-40 to hand the Bulldog duo the first set by a 6-4 margin.
The second set started off similar to the first, with both pairs holding serve. Leading 3-2, Braun and Oradini broke the Wildcats to extend their lead to 4-2 and would never look back. After Oradini served out the next game to go up 5-2, the Bulldogs pulled ahead 30-40, when Braun fired a backhand return down the alley to end the match.
"Going into the match, we both knew what was on the line," Braun said. "Tonight, we came out very sharp from the first point. Our game plan was working pretty well and our positioning on the court was great. We executed our plan very well and that, combined with our energy, made the difference."
With the win, Braun and Oradini earned ITA Doubles All-American status, while Braun became the 25th All-American in program history (Oradini had already done so in singles). In the quarterfinals, Braun and Oradini face a tall task against top-ranked Jimmy Bendeck and Sven Lah of Baylor, who topped Auburn's Brandon Laubser and Tad Maclean 7-6, 6-1 on Wednesday.
Match time for both State duos is slated for no earlier than 8 p.m. ET Thursday night.
With the two doubles wins, the Bulldogs have two tandems in the doubles quarters for the first time ever.
For more information on the Mississippi State men's tennis program, follow "HailStateMT" on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
MSU at the 2019 NCAA Singles & Doubles Championships
May 22, 2019 – Orlando, Florida (USTA National Campus)
Singles
Round of 16 – #1 Nuno Borges (MSU) [1] def. #23 Timo Stodder (Tennessee) 6-0, 6-1; #61 Giovanni Oradini (MSU) def. #22 Jack Lin (Columbia) 2-6, 6-4, 6-4
Doubles
Round of 16 – #3 Nuno Borges/Strahinja Rakic (MSU) [3] def. #28 Jacob Brumm/Yuta Kikuchi (California) 6-1, 6-2; #32 Niclas Braun/Giovanni Oradini (MSU) def. #31 Simen Bratholm/Nick Brookes (Northwestern) 6-4, 6-2
Thursday's Schedule
4 p.m. ET – Singles Quarterfinals: #1 Nuno Borges [1] vs. #6 Brandon Holt (Southern Cal) [5]
NB 5 p.m. ET – Singles Quarterfinals: #61 Giovanni Oradini vs. #5 Paul Jubb (South Carolina) [4]
NB 8 p.m. ET – Doubles Quarterfinals: #3 Nuno Borges/Strahinja Rakic [3] vs. #6 Timo Stodder/Preston Touliatos (Tennessee) [5-8]
NB 8 p.m. ET – Doubles Quarterfinals: #32 Niclas Braun/Giovanni Oradini vs. #1 Jimmy Bendeck/Sven Lah (Baylor) [1]
Numbers preceding names indicate current national rankings
Numbers in brackets are NCAA Championship seedings
ORLANDO, Fla. – Not since Stanford in 1998, which was considered by many to be the greatest men's college tennis team ever, has any program in collegiate men's tennis had two NCAA quarterfinalists in both singles and doubles.
That all changed on Wednesday when Mississippi State became the latest program to accomplish the feat, with Nuno Borges and Giovanni Oradini tallying singles wins, followed by the State duos of Borges and Strahinja Rakic and Niclas Braun and Oradini posting straight-set victories, all to reach Thursday's national quarterfinals at the USTA National Campus.
To begin the day, State's top-ranked Borges continued his incredible winning streak by only dropping one game to Tennessee's 23rd-ranked Timo Stodder, ousting the Volunteer 6-0, 6-1 in just 49 minutes for his 29th-straight victory. Borges improved to a perfect 6-0 in his career against Stodder, including a 3-0 mark in 2019.
Borges, also the NCAA's top seed this week, controlled the match from the start, winning seven of the first eight points en route to taking the first set 6-0. In the second, Stodder got on the board, holding in the second game to knot up the set score at 1-all. After the three-time SEC Player of the Year Borges held at love, he cruised past Stodder to finish out the set, holding on a deciding point to end the match.
"Like the last two days, I just stayed tough on every point," Borges said. "Today, I was much sharper and I started the match very strong. I knew (Stodder) from before, so I knew what to expect. Even though it was a short match, I had to stay sharp the whole time. He made me play a lot of balls, and I knew he was going to do that. I ended up getting some free points and it turned out very well for me."
In his quarterfinal match on Thursday, Borges will face Southern Cal's sixth-ranked and fifth-seeded Brandon Holt, who took a tight three-set decision from Texas' 12th-ranked Yuya Ito in the Round of 16. Borges and Holt have met once, with Holt coming away with a 6-3, 6-4 win in the consolation semifinals of the 2016 ITA All-American Championships. Match time between Borges and Holt is slated for 4 p.m. ET, with live coverage exclusively on the Tennis Channel.
The 61st-ranked Oradini faced another tough draw in his Round of 16 match and came through in clutch moments after dropping the first set to Columbia's 22nd-ranked Jack Lin. The Italian came out firing in the second set, mounting to a quick 4-0 lead, which he would hold onto despite Lin's comeback attempt, finally claiming the set 6-4 to force a decisive third set.
The final set was tight early on, with both players holding serve well to start. Oradini then put away a volley on a deciding point to break Lin and take a 2-1 lead that his opponent could not surmount. With Oradini leading 5-3, Lin held to cut the deficit to 5-4, but Oradini would serve it out to seal the comeback triumph that would allow him to join Borges in Thursday's quarterfinals.
"Early on, I was playing rushed and was trying to finish my points in short rallies," Oradini said. "In the second set, I came out calmer and I wasn't rushing my points. The key for me today was just being calm, tough and working on every point."
In his quarterfinal match, Oradini faces South Carolina's fifth-ranked and fourth-seeded Paul Jubb, who posted a 6-1, 6-4 win over North Carolina's No. 39 Benjamin Sigouin on Wednesday. The match is slated not before 5 p.m. ET and will also be televised live on the Tennis Channel. The two players have met only one other time – Oradini posting a 6-4, 6-3 win over Jubb at the No. 2 position to clinch State's win over the Gamecocks in Starkville in 2018.
With Borges and Oradini's wins, the Bulldogs have two players in the singles quarters for the first time since 1994, when Laurent Orsini and Joc Simmons accomplished the feat.
In State's first doubles match of the night, the third-ranked and third-seeded Bulldog tandem of Borges and Strahinja Rakic were set for a rematch from the ITA All-American Championships with Cal's 28th-ranked Jacob Brumm and Yuta Kikuchi. The Golden Bear duo took a tight three-setter from the State duo in the fall, but Borges and Rakic returned the favor in Wednesday night's battle.
Borges and Rakic cruised past the Cal tandem, taking a quick 6-1, 6-2 triumph in the Round of 16. After being broken in the first game, the Bulldogs stormed back, taking the remaining six games to take the first set.
The pair picked up right where it left off in the second stanza, breaking the Cal duo and holding to go up 2-0 early. That break lead would hold for the Maroon and White, ultimately extended to 5-2 and serving for the match. The Bulldogs would do just that, holding at love when a volley by Rakic fell out of Brumm's reach to hand State the victory.
"We came into the match wanting to get up to the net and pressure (Brumm and Kikuchi) as much as we could to make them uncomfortable," Rakic said. "I thought we did a great job of that. We were both at the net most of the time and they couldn't find the angles to pass us. It was awesome to see us figure it out the way we did and get a quick win."
The senior duo is back in the NCAA Doubles quarterfinals for the second year in a row, a feat no other MSU tandem has ever accomplished. There, Borges and Rakic will face Tennessee's sixth-ranked duo of Timo Stodder and Preston Touliatos – a 5-8 alphabetical seed. On Wednesday, Stodder and Touliatos bested No. 64 Anders Holm and Nicolas Moreno de Alboran of UC Santa Barbara 6-1, 4-6, 1-0(5) to advance to the quarterfinals.
Borges and Rakic have faced Stodder and Touliatos twice this season in dual match play, but both matches were suspended.
In the nightcap featuring State's 32nd-ranked pair of Braun and Oradini faced Northwestern's 31st-ranked Simen Bratholm and Nick Brookes. To start off, both sides held serve well, but a forehand shot by Brookes fell deep at 15-40 to hand the Bulldog duo the first set by a 6-4 margin.
The second set started off similar to the first, with both pairs holding serve. Leading 3-2, Braun and Oradini broke the Wildcats to extend their lead to 4-2 and would never look back. After Oradini served out the next game to go up 5-2, the Bulldogs pulled ahead 30-40, when Braun fired a backhand return down the alley to end the match.
"Going into the match, we both knew what was on the line," Braun said. "Tonight, we came out very sharp from the first point. Our game plan was working pretty well and our positioning on the court was great. We executed our plan very well and that, combined with our energy, made the difference."
With the win, Braun and Oradini earned ITA Doubles All-American status, while Braun became the 25th All-American in program history (Oradini had already done so in singles). In the quarterfinals, Braun and Oradini face a tall task against top-ranked Jimmy Bendeck and Sven Lah of Baylor, who topped Auburn's Brandon Laubser and Tad Maclean 7-6, 6-1 on Wednesday.
Match time for both State duos is slated for no earlier than 8 p.m. ET Thursday night.
With the two doubles wins, the Bulldogs have two tandems in the doubles quarters for the first time ever.
For more information on the Mississippi State men's tennis program, follow "HailStateMT" on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
MSU at the 2019 NCAA Singles & Doubles Championships
May 22, 2019 – Orlando, Florida (USTA National Campus)
Singles
Round of 16 – #1 Nuno Borges (MSU) [1] def. #23 Timo Stodder (Tennessee) 6-0, 6-1; #61 Giovanni Oradini (MSU) def. #22 Jack Lin (Columbia) 2-6, 6-4, 6-4
Doubles
Round of 16 – #3 Nuno Borges/Strahinja Rakic (MSU) [3] def. #28 Jacob Brumm/Yuta Kikuchi (California) 6-1, 6-2; #32 Niclas Braun/Giovanni Oradini (MSU) def. #31 Simen Bratholm/Nick Brookes (Northwestern) 6-4, 6-2
Thursday's Schedule
4 p.m. ET – Singles Quarterfinals: #1 Nuno Borges [1] vs. #6 Brandon Holt (Southern Cal) [5]
NB 5 p.m. ET – Singles Quarterfinals: #61 Giovanni Oradini vs. #5 Paul Jubb (South Carolina) [4]
NB 8 p.m. ET – Doubles Quarterfinals: #3 Nuno Borges/Strahinja Rakic [3] vs. #6 Timo Stodder/Preston Touliatos (Tennessee) [5-8]
NB 8 p.m. ET – Doubles Quarterfinals: #32 Niclas Braun/Giovanni Oradini vs. #1 Jimmy Bendeck/Sven Lah (Baylor) [1]
Numbers preceding names indicate current national rankings
Numbers in brackets are NCAA Championship seedings
Players Mentioned
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/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
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