THE FLATS – The Georgia Tech men’s tennis team dropped a tight 4-2 decision to SMU on Thursday evening.
The Court 1 duo of Christophe Clement and Hidde Schoenmakers came out on fire, winning four of the first five games to take an early 4-1 lead over SMU’s lead pairing. The Jackets rode out a 6-4 doubles win on Court 1 for their third conference win of the campaign. SMU won the remaining two matches on Courts 2 and 3 to open with the doubles point.
Tech fought back on the front courts as Gianluca Carlini navigated a 6-3 first frame on Court 3 while Schoenmakers continued his dominant day with a 6-2 set on Court 2. Clement overcame an early break deficit and won the final three games to win the first 6-4 over the No. 1 ranked player in the nation.
Schoenmakers completed his untouchable day with a 6-2, 6-1 match on Court 2 with five break points. The freshman earned his fourth ACC singles win, all coming on Court 2. The Mustangs snatched the lead back with a straight-set victory on Court 5 and pushed the lead out to 3-1 following the Court 4 result.
Carlini embarked on a back-and-forth second set, trading service games to set up the second-set tiebreaker. SMU’s Georgi Georgiev won the first four points before Carlini answered immediately with four consecutive points of his own at 4-4. The sophomore buckled down and won the final three points to win the set and match.
The Court 3 result put Tech back in the match with three-set battles on Courts 1 and 6. Trevor Svajda, the number-one ranked player in the nation, responded with a 6-2 second set to even the score on the main court. Clement pulled out a 3-1 lead before Svajda reeled him back to storm away to win 6-3 and clinch the match.
Georgia Tech will finish out the weekend with Boston College at home on Saturday at 12 p.m. Admission is free for all home tennis matches at Ken Byers Tennis Complex.
#31 SMU 4, #47 Georgia Tech 2
Singles:
- #1 Trevor Svajda (SMU) def. Christophe Clement (GT) 4-6, 6-2, 6-3
- Hidde Schoenmakers (GT) def. Alex Finkelstein (SMU) 6-2, 6-1
- Gianluca Carlini (GT) def. Georgi Georgiev (SMU) 6-3, 7-6 (5)
- Krish Arora (SMU) def. Jonathan Irwanto (GT) 7-6 (5), 6-3
- Jerry Barton (SMU) def. Elias Shokry (GT) 6-2, 6-3
- Richard Biagiotti (GT) vs. Noah McDonald (SMU) 2-6, 6-3, 4-2, unfinished
Doubles:
- Christophe Clement/Hidde Schoenmakers (GT) def. Alex Finkelstein/Krish Arora (SMU) 6-3
- Trevor Svajda/Jerry Barton (SMU) def. Jonathan Irwanto/Richard Biagiotti (GT) 6-2
- Georgi Georgiev/Vikas Deo (SMU) def. Gianluca Carlini/Elias Shokry (GT)
Georgia Tech (11-11, 2-9 ACC) | SMU (17-9, 7-4 ACC)
Order of Finish: Doubles (3, 1, 2); Singles (2, 5, 4, 3, 1)
Full Steam Ahead
Full Steam Ahead is a $500 million fundraising initiative to achieve Georgia Tech athletics’ goal of competing for championships at the highest level in the next era of intercollegiate athletics. The initiative will fund transformative projects for Tech athletics, including renovations of Bobby Dodd Stadium at Hyundai Field (the historic home of Georgia Tech football), the Zelnak Basketball Center (the practice and training facility for Tech basketball) and O’Keefe Gymnasium (the venerable home of Yellow Jackets volleyball), as well as additional projects and initiatives to further advance Georgia Tech athletics through program wide-operational support. All members of the Georgia Tech community are invited to visit atfund.org/FullSteamAhead for full details and renderings of the renovation projects, as well as to learn about opportunities to contribute online.
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