Hurricanes Claim 14 Wins at ITA Regionals

ATHENS, Ga. – The University of Miami men’s tennis team wrapped up its time at the ITA Southeast Regional Championships with 14 wins on the University of Georgia campus.

Senior Martin Katz earned three ranked wins in his five victories to claim third place. He kicked off the main draw with a 1-6, 7-6 (7), 7-5 win over Florida’s Henry Jefferson, before grabbing the victory against Krish Arora (Georgia Tech), 6-2, 6-4 in the round of 32. Katz then advanced after a 7-5, 6-3 win over UCF’s No. 87 Yassine Dlimi to the quarterfinals where he secured another ranked win with the 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (3) victory over No. 86 Oscar Pinto Sansano (UGA).

Katz came up short in the semifinals, falling 6-3, 6-2 to No. 82 Jamie Connel (FSU), before earning third place over Georgia’s No. 28 Ryan Colby, 6-2, 6-3.

Junior Nacho Serra Sanchez also had a successful week despite his opening match in the tournament. The Spaniard dropped his first match in the round of 64 to Mercer’s Hod’ Abalo Isak Padio, 6-4, 6-2, but then won five consecutive for the consolation finals victory.

Sanchez defeated Lucas Olivier (Stetson), 7-6 (4), 6-3, in the consolation round of 32 before taking down Georgia State’s Baran Soyler, 3-6, 6-3, [11-9] in the round of 16. Then, Sanchez claimed the 6-1, 6-3 win over UCF’s Adriano Dzhenev and 6-4, 6-4 victory against Henry Jefferson (UF) to slide into the finals. Closing out the tournament, Sanchez took down Georgia’s Cyrus Mahjoob, 6-3, 6-7 (4), [12-10] in the finals.

The other four Hurricanes competed in the tournament, where freshman Mehdi Sadaoui earned two singles wins along with a doubles win with Sanchez. Sophomore Leonardo Dal Boni, a transfer from Furman, also claimed his first win in Miami gear.