M. Tennis Opens Play in Georgia

ATHENS, Ga. – Doubles ruled the day for a quartet of University of Miami men’s tennis student-athletes, as the Hurricanes opened the 52nd Annual Southern Intercollegiate Championships at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex with a perfect 3-0 doubles mark.
 
In round of 16 action, junior Benjamin Hannestad and sophomore Franco Aubone teamed up for the first time and walked away victorious against Texas’ Chih Chi Huang and Cleeve Harper, 7-5, in the Red Doubles Draw.
 
Teaming up once more in the quarterfinals, the duo faced off against Illinois’ Siphosothando Monti and Gui Gomes. In a back-and-forth match, Miami’s tandem secured a 7-6 (7-5) tiebreaker win to advance to Saturday’s semifinal match.
 
Hannestad and Aubone will battle Philip Henning and Blake Croyder of Georgia at 8 a.m., to try and secure a spot in Sunday’s championship.
 
Competing in the Black Doubles Draw, senior Stephen Madonia and junior William Grattan-Smith earned a first-round-bye, before matching up against Texas’ Jacob Bullard and Evin McDonald in the quarterfinals.
 
The pair of upperclassmen secured a 7-5 victory and will face Samuel Dromsky of Georgia and Mikhail Sokolovskiy of UCF in the semifinals.
 
In singles play, Grattan-Smith secured an opening round victory over Dromsky, 6-4, 6-2, in the White Singles Draw.
 
Also competing in the draw, Hannestad fell in three sets against Georgia Tech’s Keshav Chopra, 3-6, 7-5, 3-6, while Madonia dropped his match against the Yellow Jacket’s Chris Yun. 4-6, 4-6.
 
Competing in the Silver Singles Draw, Aubone came up short against Texas’ Nevin Arimilli, 4-6, 6-1, 1-6.
 
Singles action will resume on Saturday following the conclusion of doubles play, while championship Sunday will begin at 8:30 a.m.