CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — Five members of the Vanderbilt men’s tennis team advanced to the third round at the ITA Ohio Valley Regional Championship Friday, with the team’s top seeded players in the event—Nathan Cox and Jeremie Casabon—adding a second win to reach the Round of 16.
The tournament’s fourth seed, #119 Cox, prevailed in a pair of three setters during Friday’s action. His second round win was over Tennessee Tech’s Alex Alvarez, and he followed that with a victory over Charlelie Cosnet from Kentucky.
Casabon, the event’s 12th seed, advanced to the Round of 16 with a win late Friday afternoon over Xavier’s Pascal Mosberger. Earlier in the day. Casabon won his second round match in three sets over Tennessee Tech’s Murilo Buckhardt.
A pair of Commodores drew the tournament’s highest seeds in the third round. Juan Lopez was defeated by top seed #24 Etienne Donnet from Louisville while Joubert Klopper fell to #35 Pablo Alemany of Memphis, the event’s second seed.
Vanderbilt won five of six second round singles matches early on Friday. While Cox and Casabon needed three sets, Lopez, Klopper and Michael Ross were all straights sets winners.
Ranked 40th in the nation, Vanderbilt’s doubles pairing of Casabon and Cox, the second seeds in the tournament, reached the Round of 16 with a win over Middle Tennessee.
Play continues Saturday at Chattanooga’s Champions Club at Riverfront Park.
Friday Results
Singles – Championship Draw Second Round
#119 Nathan Cox (Vanderbilt) def. Alex Alvarez (Tennessee Tech) 6-0, 4-6, 6-0
Jeremie Casabon (Vanderbilt) def. Murilo Burckhardt (Tennessee Tech) 6-1, 2-6, 6-3
Juan Lopez (Vanderbilt) def. Juan Sebastian Domiguez Collado (Lipscomb) 6-4, 6-1
Michael Ross (Vanderbilt) def. Nikola Puric (Dayton) 6-3, 6-3
Evan Duggal (Louisville) def. Mitchell Deames (Vanderbilt) 6-4, 6-3
Joubert Klopper (Vanderbilt) def. Deacon Thomas (Indiana) 6-1, 6-1
Singles – Championship Draw Third Round
#119 Cox (Vanderbilt) def. Charlelie Cosnet (Kentucky) 4-6, 6-3, 6-2
Casabon (Vanderbilt) def. Pascal Mosberger (Xavier) 6-2, 6-0
#24 Etienne Donnet (Louisville) def. Lopez (Vanderbilt) 6-1, 6-0
#35 Pablo Alemany (Memphis) def. Klopper (Vanderbilt) 6-3, 6-1
Jack Loutit (Kentucky) def. Ross (Vanderbilt) 7-6 (3), 6-2
Doubles – Championship Draw
#40 Casabon/Cox (Vanderbilt) def. Dimosthenis Taramonlis/Kristian Thomas (Middle Tennessee) 8-3
Ryan Cahill/Pascal Mosberger (Xavier) def. Lopez/Ross (Vanderbilt) 8-5
Saturday Schedule
Singles – Championship Draw
11 am [4] Cox (Vanderbilt) vs [10] Conor Gannon (Memphis)
11 am [12] Casabon (Vanderbilt) vs [7] Leo Raquin (Middle Tennessee State)
Singles – Consolation Draw
9 am Paul Wang (Vanderbilt) vs Kristoffer Stahlbrand (Eastern Kentucky)
Doubles – Championship Draw
9 am [2] Casabon/Cox (Vanderbilt) vs Dmitri Badra/Fransico Lamas (East Tennessee State)
Doubles – Consolation Draw First Round
2 pm Deames/Klopper (Vanderbilt) vs. Daniel Perez-Caraballo/Nil Moinet (Tennessee State)
To follow the action, visit the tournament homepage: http://vanderbi.lt/w1k1h.
