AUBURN, Ala. — Sunday is slated to be an action packed day for the men’s tennis team, as the ‘Dores continue competition in the SEC Fall Classic, hosted by Aurbun University.
In doubles action three squads look to compete in tournament semifinals.
“There were some double this morning that I really liked,” said head coach Ian Duvenhage. “So you know we obviously have a lot of things to work on, but I think their have been a lot of positives in these first two days. I still think the doubles has been the highlight so far. ”
A Vanderbilt vs. Vanderbilt doubles match is on the horizon in one of the tournaments two doubles brackets, as top-seeded Cameron Klinger and Daniel Valent face teammates Vikram Chari and Kris Yee after the Chari/Yee knocked off the fourth-seeded Razorback duo of Munoz/Marino in a close 8-6 victory.
Third-seeded Rhys Johnson and Pen Binet picked up an 8-4 victory as the Commodore pair took down the Auburn Tigers’ Nguyen/Krickovic. The duo looks forward to contest against inter-state rival Tennessee at 9:00 am CT.
“We play teammates in practice all the time and this is a good close team, but they’ll go at it. Pen Binet and Rhys Johnson played a really good match and were firing from all cylinders from the get go.”
The `Dores had fantastic showings in singles action as Klinger, a freshman from Elk Grove, Calif. advanced all the way to tournament quarterfinals before falling in a difficult three setter to MSU junior Rishab Argarwal; 1-6, 7-5, 7-6.
“One of the highlights of the day was the match Cameron Klinger played against Argarwal. It was a great match and he played really well. He had match point in the second set, but couldn’t convert. And he was match point down in the third set and saved three match points, and it ended up coming down to a tiebreaker in the third. Unfortunately he lost it. I thought Argarwal just outplayed him in the tiebreaker, but the quality of the tennis was just so high. I’m really really really pleased with the way he played.”
Yee plays in his singles flight final tomorrow after defeating all three of his tournament opponents in straight sets. The Las Vegas native pulled out a huge 7-6, 7-6 semifinal win Saturday morning over Arkansas’ Marino to start his day off, only to close it with a 6-2, 6-3 win over the Razorbacks’ Albanese. The senior plays SC’s Andrew Schafer Sunday at 12:00 pm CT.
“Kris (Yee) obviously did a good job. He’s getting better with every match. Kris is one of those guys that needs to play to get into a grove and it’s getting better every match.”
