TULSA, Okla. — Vanderbilt men’s tennis is advancing to the round of 16 in the ITA All-American Championships doubles main draw courtesy of Hugo Coquelin and Henry Ruger.
Ahead of the doubles match, Danil Panarin began his solo play in the opening round of the singles main draw. The No. 22-ranked sophomore started off strong, quickly taking the first set 6-3 over Florida State’s Corey Craig. The Seminole made adjustments with his coaching staff in between sets and never looked back. Craig downed Panarin 6-1, 6-1 to close out the match, eliminating the Commodore from the tournament.
The sophomore Coquelin and fifth-year Ruger took the court soon after. The pair came into the match winners of four in a row, including multiple super tiebreaker victories. They matched up against Joshua Dous Karpenschif and Erik Schiessl of Florida State. The Seminole pair captured the momentum early, pulling away with the first set 6-4. The opening set loss was the first of the tournament for Coquelin and Ruger.
However, the Dores met the challenge. Vanderbilt surged ahead to a 6-4 second set victory, forcing a 10-point super tiebreaker. Both teams saw leads of multiple points in the last set. With an 8-6 Dore lead, the Seminoles regained control and pushed the score to 9-8. One point away from a tournament exit, Coquelin and Ruger did what they have done all tournament: find a way to win. The Dore duo rattled off the last three points to take the match 11-9 and move on to the next round.
No. 86 Coquelin and Ruger face Cal’s No. 13-ranked Alex Chang and Michael Wright in the round of 16 tomorrow at 4 p.m. CT. Thursday marks the sixth consecutive day of play for the duo.
