University of Tennessee at Chattanooga sophomores Niklas Gerdes and Simon Bustamante had strong showings on the opening day of the Georgia Southern Championships today. Both Mocs advanced to the quarterfinals in singles and semifinals in doubles in Statesboro, Ga.
Gerdes, seeded fifth in the singles draw, opened with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Kennesaw State's Brian Triana. He followed that with a three-set win over Georgia State's Diego Finkelstein (6-3, 5-7, 6-4).
Bustamante entered the day as the No.
6 seed and also posted two wins. He defeated KSU's Austin Anderson (6-4, 7-6) in the first round before knocking off Georgia Southern's Artemie Amari in three sets (7-5, 67-, 6-2) in the second.
Gerdes faces Georgia Southern's No. 3 seed Eddie Landin tomorrow, while Bustamante is matched up against the Eagle's No. 4 seed Stefano Di Aloy. Freshmen Luke Plaisted and Jacob Marshall also scored singles wins in consolation action.
Bustamante and Gerdes teamed up as the No. 4 seed in the doubles draw and scored two wins. Wins over The Citadel and Kennesaw State have them face the No. 2 team of Alcala/Di Aloy from Georgia Southern tomorrow.
Marshall and fellow freshman Cooper Long had a doubles win in the backdraw. As did Plaisted and junior Pablo Llebeili.
Play resumes on Saturday at 9:00 a.m. with doubles. Be sure to check back to GoMocs.com for a full recap.
Singles
Pascal Wagenmaker (GSU) def. Cooper Long (UTC) – 7-6 (4), 6-2
Laurentiu Schinteie (KSU) def. Cooper Long (UTC) – 6-1, 6-2
Corey Smith (KSU) def. Pablo Llebeili (UTC) – 6-3, 6-4
No. 4 Stefano Di Aloy (GSU) def. Luke Plaisted (UTC) – 6-2, 6-3
Luke Plaisted (UTC) def. Harrison Wood (KSU) – 6-2, 7-5
No. 6 Simon Bustamante (UTC) def. Austin Anderson (KSU) – 6-4, 7-6
No. 6 Simon Bustamante (UTC) def. Artemie Amari (GSU) – 7-5, 6-7, 6-2
No. 5 Niklas Gerdes (UTC) def. Brian Triana (KSU) – 6-3, 6-2
No. 5 Niklas Gerdes (UTC) def. Diego Finkelstein (GSU) – 6-3, 5-7, 6-4
Diego Finkelstein (GSU) def. Paul Lahue (UTC) – 6-1, 6-0
Brian Triana (KSU) def. Paul Lahue (UTC) – 6-0, 6-0
Lucas de Torres Curth (KSU) def. Jacob Marshall (UTC) – 6-4, 6-3
Jacob Marshall (UTC) def. Armab Boppudi (Citadel) – 6-1, 6-0
Murphy McCullough (GSU) def. Michael Birnbaum (UTC) – 6-3, 6-0
Roy Hobson (Citadel) def. Michael Birnbaum (UTC) – 3-6, 6-1, 6-2
Doubles
Smith/Wood (KSU) def. Marshall/Long (UTC) – 8-2
Marshall/Long (UTC) def. Hobson/Boppudi - 8-3
No. 4 Gerdes/Bustamante (UTC) def. Hobson/Van Zyl (Citadel) – 8-3
No. 4 Gerdes/Bustamante (UTC) def. De Torres Curth/Lahey (KSU) – 8-1
Schinteie/Anderson (KSU) def. Plaisted/Llebeili (UTC) – 8-3
Plaisted/Llebeili (UTC) def. Van Zyl/Davis - 9-8 (4)