THE FLATS – Georgia Tech men’s tennis won the first match of the spring season 4-3 against Georgia State.
The doubles point started with a dominant showing from Pablo Schelcher and Keshav Chopra. The doubles pairing, coming off a win at the MLK Invitational, jumped out to a 5-0 lead before winning their doubles match, 6-2 over Huynh/Maughan.
On court one, two ranked doubles teams were competing in the No. 3 ranked doubles pairing of Marcus McDaniel and Andres Martin faced off against No. 48 Grinvalds/Duarte. McDaniel/Martin fell behind 5-3 but came roaring back to take the match 7-5, clinching the doubles point for Tech.
“I know I can come up with great shots in any situation. I don’t think there was that much pressure. It was just about being present and focusing on every point. I think that was helpful in tight situations because in doubles we were down a break and they were serving for it. Getting the energy for the team really helps,” Martin said.
Singles action was paced by two blistering fast matches by Chopra and Martin. Chopra finished first on court two 6-3, 6-0 beating Harvey Maughan. Martin was close behind on court one winning 6-4, 6-1. Both matches were under an hour and gave Tech a commanding 3-0 lead.
“I realized my opponent was getting tired,” Chopra said. “I picked up on that. I realized I was going to move him around and tire him out. It’s about pressure from me, putting pressure on the other guy.”
Chopra’s double partner, Schelcher, was on court four. Schelcher won set one 6-4 and was tied 3-3 in set two before winning the final three games to secure the 6-3 win on set two. This clinched the win for Tech with a 4-0 lead.
Shortly after the win was secured, Brandon McKinney retired on court six. McKinney won the first set 6-3 and was tied 4-4 in the second set before retiring.
Ángel Guerrero Melgar had a hard fought match against Patrick Lazo dropping the first set 7-6(3) before finally dropping set two 6-4. Chen Dong went to a tiebreaker third set before losing to Adrei Duarte, 6-7(4), 6-1, 11-9.
The White and Gold return to action on Sunday for a match against The Citadel at 12:00 p.m.
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