Mississippi State Hosts Georgia in a Top-10 Matchup at the A.J. Pitts Tennis Centre Sunday

Sunday, March 8

Starkville

1 p.m.

Mississippi State

Georgia

Mississippi State Hosts Georgia in a Top-10 Matchup at the A.J. Pitts Tennis Centre Sunday

March 07, 2026 | Men's Tennis

By: Tad Couch, Mississippi State Athletic Communications Student Intern

Sunday, March 8 at 1 p.m. CT
Starkville, Miss. | A.J. Pitts Tennis Centre
Match 15
No. 5 Mississippi State vs No. 8 Georgia
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STARKVILLE – No. 5 Mississippi State will host No. 8 Georgia in a top ten showdown, Sunday at 1 p.m. at the A.J. Pitts Tennis Centre.

Mississippi State is led by Petar Jovanovic, who recently became the program's all-time leader in combined singles and doubles victories. The Bulldogs have five players ranked in singles in the latest national rankings, providing depth throughout the lineup as the team continues conference play.

Georgia enters the match with four players ranked in the latest ITA singles rankings, including No. 32 Arda Azkara, No. 34 William Jansen, No. 81 Santiago Giamichelle and No. 120 Noah Johnston. Georgia also have two doubles teams ranked nationally with No. 43 Arda Azkara/Santiago Giamichelle and No. 68 Derrick Chen/Santiago Giamichelle.

Mississippi State Notes
• Petar Jovanovic set the all-time program wins record with a singles and doubles victory versus Tennessee.
• Head Coach Matt Roberts holds the record for most wins in program history with 224 wins at the helm.
• The Bulldogs picked up their first top-five victory of the season defeating No. 4 Stanford 4-3 at the ITA National Team Indoor Championships.
• All three of Mississippi States's conference victories have been over ranked opponents, No. 37 Vanderbilt and No. 61 Tennessee at home and No. 18 Auburn on the road.
• Mississippi State opened the 2026 season with four consecutive road sweeps before returning home to sweep Santa Clara and Auburn at the ITA Kickoff Weekend to secure a birth in the ITA National Team Indoor Championships.
• The Bulldogs are .500 or above at every singles position through the opening stretch of the season.
• Five Bulldogs are ranked in the ITA singles rankings, led by Petar Jovanovic at No. 8, the second highest-ranked player in the SEC.
• The Bulldogs have three doubles teams in the ITA Rankings for the first time this season. No. 5 Petar Jovanovic and Benito Sanchez Martinez are the highest ranked SEC duo.
• Junior Roberto Ferrer Guimaraes finds himself in the ITA doubles ranking for the first time in his career alongside Bryan Hernandez Cortes at No. 38.
• Seniors Petar Jovanovic and Benito Sanchez Martinez return as ITA Doubles All-Americans, while Jovanovic also earned ITA Singles All-American honors after reaching the NCAA Individual Championships quarterfinals.
• Mississippi State posted 25 wins in 2025, tying the 1979 team for the most single-season victories in program history.
• In 2025, Benito Sanchez Martinez set single-season program records for dual-match wins in both singles and doubles.
• Jovanovic and Sanchez Martinez are the winningest doubles pair in program history, surpassing Nuno Borges and Strahinja Rakic by nine victories.
• The Bulldogs return eight letterwinners from last season's NCAA quarterfinal squad.
• Mississippi State is in its 102nd season as a program, with an all-time record of 1,120-646-8.

Mississippi State Record Book Watch
• Jovanovic has 89 career doubles wins, making him third-most all-time. He sits just eight wins away from Laurent Miquelard's (1992-95) total of 97.
• Jovanovic currently has 60 career dual match doubles wins. He is just four wins away from breaking Ramskogler's total for the for the most all-time.
• Jovanovic is now 5^nd all-time in career singles wins with 101. He is now two wins away from jumping into 4^th all-time.
• Mario Martinez Serrano and Petar Jovanovic reached 100 career singles wins against Auburn, Mar. 1.

Mississippi State in the ITA Rankings
Team Ranking – 5th

Singles
No. 8 – Petar Jovanovic
No. 39 – Mario Martinez Serrano
No. 55 – Benito Sanchez Martinez
No. 92 – Bryan Hernandez Cortes
No. 125 – Niccolo Baroni

Doubles
No. 5 - Petar Jovanovic and Benito Sanchez Martinez
No. 38 - Bryan Hernandez Cortes and Roberto Ferrer Guimaraes
No. 72 – Mario Martinez Serrano and Michal Novansky

Series History vs. Georgia
• Mississippi State is 11-62 all-time versus Georgia
• Georgia holds the advantage in Starkville, 4-22
• Head Coach, Matt Roberts won his first matchup against Georgia in 2015, he has gone on to pick up three more victories against the Bulldogs.

For the most up-to-date information on the Bulldogs, follow MSU Men's Tennis on Twitter, like them on Facebook and join them on Instagram by searching for "HailStateMT"

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