Shimamoto and Soriano to Play For Title in Fall Finales
By Teodor Handarov
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – University of Miami men’s tennis freshmen Tatsuki Shimamoto and Adria Soriano continued their strong showing at the CCB Collegiate Invitational and picked up one more win to advance to the finals in their respective brackets.
Shimamoto, who entered the tournament at the Country Club of Birmingham with only one singles win this fall, dominated UAB’s Giovani Pasini 6-1, 6-3 in the Houndstooth draw semifinals for his third win in the tournament. The Japan native will face Southern Miss’ Mikhail Esipov in his first collegiate final.
“Tatsuki is having a great tournament, his game has been getting better with each match,” assistant coach Petar Danolic said after day two. “It gives us great confidence as a team to see what Tatsuki is capable of.”
Meanwhile, in the White draw, Soriano recorded another straight-set victory – 6-2, 6-4 over Pierre Garcia of Portland – to advance to the title match on Sunday morning. There, he will meet Tennessee’s Luca Wiedenmann, who booked his ticket there after prevailing against Alabama’s Zhe Zhou in a third-set tiebraker.
“Adri played the best match of the fall,” Danolic said. “I am really pleased with how he handled pressure moments today. He played with a lot of passion.”
Neither Shimamoto, nor Soriano have lost a set yet in the tournament, combining for a 12-0 margin over the course of the first two days.
“I expect the guys to come out tomorrow with the same intensity,” Danolic said. “Today was a great day, but we need to finish strong tomorrow.”
Another freshman, Bojan Jankulovski, picked up Miami’s final singles victory on a day on which the Hurricanes went 3-1 in individual competition. He defeated Portland’s 6-2, 7-5 in what Danolic called a “high-quality match” on the consolation side of the Crimson draw bracket to improve to 6-5 in the fall.
“[Jankulovski] has been very consistent this fall and I believe he is one of the best freshmen in the country,” Danolic said.
???????Shimamoto could not sweep the day like he did Friday after he and senior partner Christian Langmo fell 8-3 in the White doubles draw. The second-seeded duo found some consolation later in the morning by winning the third-place playoff against Lipscomb’s Daniel Cardenas and Alejandro Manzanares, 8-6. Langmo and Shimamoto completed the fall 2-1 as a pair.
Upon completing the CCB Collegiate Invitational Sunday, Miami men’s tennis will return a few weeks after the New Year holidays. The Hurricanes’ first contest of the spring season will be at Tulane on Jan. 19.
For all of the latest news around Miami’s men’s tennis team, follow @CanesMensTennis on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, or go to HurricaneSports.com.
UPDATED CCB COLLEGIATE INVITATIONAL BRACKET
Canes at CCB Collegiate Invitational, day 3 (Sunday):
White singles draw:
Final: #1 Adria Soriano vs. Luca Wiedenmann (Tennessee), 9 a.m.
Houndstooth singles draw:
Final: Tatsuki Shimamoto vs. Mikhail Esipov (Southern Miss), 9 a.m.
Crimson singles draw:
Bojan Jankulovski vs. #3 Adam Walton (Tennessee), 9 a.m.
Christian Langmo vs. Jake Faundez (Samford), 9 a.m.
