March 24, 2009

COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina freshman Ivan Machado earned SEC Men’s Tennis Freshman of the Week honors, the league announced today. Against then-No. 18 Wake Forest, Machado scored the first singles win of the match after he and doubles partner Diego Cubas clinched the doubles point for the Gamecocks to open the contest.

The doubles victory came over the No. 1 ranked tandem in the nation, Cory Parr and Steven Foreman. Machado held serve through 11 deuce points to send the match into a tiebreaker, which the Gamecocks won 7-5. In singles play, his No. 4 match against Iain Atkinson opened well with a 6-2 first-set win for the first-year Gamecock, but he had to rally back from a break down in the second set to force a tiebreaker. Machado opened a 4-1 lead but saw Atkinson rally back to 6-6 with Machado serving. The Rio de Janeiro native forced his opponent into a pair of long forehands to collect the win.

The singles win lifted his record to 17-6 on the season, including a 9-4 mark in dual matches. He has a 16-9 doubles record, pairing with Cubas for an 11-5 record, including a 9-4 slate playing in the No. 1 spot in dual matches.

Machado and South Carolina are back in action on Wed., Mar. 25, hosting archrival Clemson at 2 p.m. at the Sam Daniel Tennis Center. The first 50 fans will receive a Beat Clemson t-shirt, and students can enjoy free pizza and soda (student ID required).