The Emory men's tennis team continued play at the ITA South Regional on Sunday. After a strong day two, the Eagles saw three of their own advance to the quarterfinals of the main singles draw. The Rome Tennis Center in Mount Berry, Georgia served as the host site for the event.
The singles draw continued with the Round of 32 on Sunday afternoon. The story of the day was junior John Lasanajak's upset of No. 2 seed and reigning ITA South Regional Champion Jordan Theron. The junior won his first set, 6-4, before dropping the next, 1-6. Lasanajak would win the tiebreaker in dramatic fashion, being on the right side of an 11-9 finish. He went on to win his next match, also going three sets (6-4, 3-6, 6-3) to advance to the quarterfinals.
Graduate transfer Efe Comu, the tournament's No. 1 seed, advanced to the round of 16 with a win over Rhodes College's Paul Fridman in straight sets (6-2, 6-0). Comu would make quick work of his opponent in the Round of 16, winning in straight sets (6-1, 6-3).
Junior Dean Kamenev, the third-seeded singles player, took his second-round match with ease, besting North Carolina Wesleyan's Martin Cardestig in straight sets (6-0, 6-4). Graduate student Charley Force won his second-round matchup, 6-0 and 6-2, over Sewanee's Henry Hyden to advance and take on Kamenev in the ensuing round. While it took three sets to decide a winner, Kamenev came out on top (6-4, 2-6, 6-2) to advance to the quarterfinals.
Sophomore Christian Liew was also dominant in his opening match of the day, winning his round of 32 match in straight sets (6-3, 6-3) over North Carolina Wesleyan's Bernardo Messineo. However, the sophomore fell short in his following match, falling in three sets (3-6, 6-1, 3-6) to Luca Knese of North Carolina Wesleyan.
Freshmen Ajay Kartik and Joshua Lai both lost in straight sets. Kartik fell to Methodist's William Lewis (0-6, 3-6) while Lai fell to North Carolina Wesleyan's Bohdan Zhylchuk (2-6, 5-7).
Freshman Ruilin Feng fell in a tiebreaker in his round of 32match against North Carolina Wesleyan's Julian Barros (5-7, 6-0, 10-6). His classmate, Alec Anghel, suffered a similar fate when he fell in a tie breaker to Sewanee's George Alexander (6-4, 5-7, 3-10). Sophomore Ryan Nash was the third Eagle to drop a tiebreaker in the round of 32, dropping his match to North Carolina Wesleyan's Diego Segovia (6-0, 2-6, 4-10).
The event will conclude on Monday with doubles play beginning in the morning and singles play to follow.
