M. Tennis Opens the 2019-20 Fall Season
COLUMBIA, S.C. – Split between a pair of fall tournaments, the Farnsworth Ivy-Plus in Princeton, N.J., and the Gamecock Fall Invitational in Columbia, S.C., the University of Miami men’s tennis team kicked off the 2019-20 campaign.
Leading the charge for the Hurricanes, No. 21 and top-seeded Adria Soriano Barrera opened his junior campaign with back-to-back straight-set victories to advance through to tomorrow’s semifinal round against No. 46 and third-seeded Filip Malbasic of Arizona at 1:30 p.m.
The Barcelona, Spain, native opened the weekend in South Carolina with a back-and-forth opening set against Arizona State’s Thomas Wright. Entering a first-set tiebreaker, Soriano Barrera cruised to a 7-6 (7-2) set win, before securing the round of 16 victory, 7-6 (7-2), 6-2.
In the quarterfinals, the junior topped No. 122 and seventh-seeded Chih Chi Huang of Texas, 6-1, 6-4.
Also competing in the White Singles Draw, junior Benjamin Hannestad kicked off his UM career with a comeback victory over No. 65 Nicaise Muamba of Liberty, 3-6, 6-4, 6-2.
However, in the quarterfinals against No. 48 Brian Cernoch of North Carolina, Hannestad came up short, 6-7 (0-7), 1-6.
Opening his senior season with a bang, Dane Dunlap topped Tulane’s Luis Ereinbusch, ranked No. 61 nationally, 6-3, 1-6, 7-6 (7-3).
However, in quarterfinal action against No. 37 Carles Sarrio Tamarit of SMU, the redshirt senior fell, 4-6, 2-6.
After dropping his first round match against Florida State’s Angus Bradshaw, 1-6, 3-6, No. 51 Bojan Jankulovski secured a 6-3, 7-6 (7-3) victory over Nick Lagaev of Arizona.
A pair of Argentinian sophomores opened the year in the South Carolina Black Singles Draw, where No. 113 Francisco Bastias opened the season with a 6-3, 6-1 triumph over South Carolina’s Thomas Brown.
He then faced No. 36 Ewan Moore of Tulane in the quarterfinals, coming up short, 4-6, 2-6.
Meanwhile, after dropping a 1-6, 0-6 match against the top-overall seed in the bracket, No. 17 Adam Walton of Tennessee, Franco Aubone collected a 6-1, 6-3 victory over SMU’s Allen Huntley.
Opening with doubles in the Garden State, senior Stephen Madonia and junior Pablo Aycart Joya cruised to an 8-2 quarterfinals victory over William & Mary’s Daniel Pellerito and Finbar Talcott.
In the semifinals, the duo came up short against Cornell’s Evan Byrnoe and Konstantin Kirovski, 8-3.
In a separate bracket, juniors Williams Grattan-Smith and Tatsuki Shimamoto fell to Yale’s Dylan King and Michael Sun, 4-8.
The Hurricanes will open the second day of competition at both tournaments tomorrow at 9 a.m.
To keep up with the University of Miami men’s tennis team on social media, follow @CanesMensTennis on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
