Aubone/Hannestad Advance to the Round of 16

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. – Squaring off against Denver’s James Davis and Matt Summers, junior Benjamin Hannestad and sophomore Franco Aubone rebounded from an opening set setback, to advance to the round of 16 of the Oracle ITA National Fall Championships Wednesday night at the Tennis Club at Newport Beach Country Club.
 
“I am proud of how the guys fought tonight and found a way to pull out the match,” assistant coach Beck Pennington said.
 
Through five games and five back-and-forth service wins, Aubone and Hannestad collected the match’s first break and jumped in front 4-2. However, the Denver duo quickly responded and claimed five of the final six games and won it, 6-2
 
After coming up short in the opening set, the Miami tandem dominated the third game, winning at love, to take a 2-1 advantage. Aubone and Hannestad then immediately followed it up with another break point and a service win, to jump out to a commanding 4-1 lead.
 
Overall, the duo claimed the second set, 6-2, to force the third-set tiebreaker.
 
In the breaker, Miami quickly ran out to a 5-1 lead, a lead it would not look back on, securing the hard-fought victory, 5-7, 6-2, 1-0 (10-7).
 
The pair will face TCU’s Jacob Fearnley and Alastair Gray, ranked No. 22 nationally, Thursday night.