Rodrigues, Thomson Advance at All-Americans
Tulsa, Okla. – South Carolina men’s tennis junior Daniel Rodrigues and sophomore Connor Thomson advanced to the round of 32 in the singles main draw at the ITA All-American Championships.
Rodrigues, ranked No. 3 in the nation, made easy work of No. 30 Tyler Zink of Oklahoma State in the first round, defeating him in straight sets, 6-3, 6-4.
No. 16 Thomson had a closer battle in his first-round match against No. 97 Vito Tonjc of DePaul. The Gamecock sophomore took the first set 6-4 before dropping the second set in a tiebreak with a score of 6-7 (3). Thomson battled back to post a decisive 6-2 win in the final set.
Rodrigues and Thomson did not see as much fortune in their doubles match together as the No. 4 tandem in the nation suffered a narrow defeat to No. 48 Emile Hudd and Shunsuki Mitsui of Tennessee. The Gamecocks claimed the first set 7-6 (3) before dropping the second by an even slimmer margin, 7-6 (5). The super-tiebreak to decide the match went to the Vols’ duo 10-5.
South Carolina junior Raphael Lambling also competed in the singles round of 64 but dropped his match to Daniel De Jonge of Pepperdine. Lambling put up a hard fight, taking the first set before falling in tiebreaks in both the second and third sets.
No. 49 Toby Samuel also lost his first-round match of the main draw. Samuel gave it his all in the first set, dropping a marathon 7-6 (12), before ceding the second set to No. 71 Joshua Lapadat of Kentucky 6-3.
Main draw matches will continue in the tournament Thursday with Rodrigues facing Florida’s Ben Shelton (86) at 11 a.m. EST and Thomson facing Oklahoma’s Mason Beiler (46) at 12 p.m. EST.
For all the latest South Carolina men’s tennis information, continue to follow GamecocksOnline.com or the team on social media (@GamecockMTennis).
Singles main draw
(3) Daniel Rodrigues def. (30) Tyler Zink (Oklahoma State) 6-3, 6-4
(16) Connor Thomson def. (97) Vito Tonjc (DePaul) 6-4, 6-7(3), 6-2
(117) Daniel De Jonge (Pepperdine) def. (39) Raphael Lambling 3-6, 7-6(4), 7-5
(71) Joshua Lapadat (Kentucky) def. (49) Toby Samuel 7-6 (12), 6-3
Doubles main draw
(48) Emile Hudd/Shunsuki Mitsui (Tennessee) def. (4) Daniel Rodrigues/Connor Thomson 6-7(3), 7-6(5), 1-0 (5)
