April 10, 2009
AUBURN, Ala. – No. 24 South Carolina dropped a 6-1 decision at No. 27 Auburn Friday afternoon in an SEC men’s tennis match that began outdoors but was forced indoors for singles due to high winds. Junior Ivan Cressoni picked up the Gamecocks’ lone victory, playing up one spot in the No. 5 position. South Carolina dropped to 15-7 on the season and 3-6 in the SEC, while Auburn lifted its record to 11-8 overall and 4-5 in league play.
For the fourth-straight match, the Gamecocks stumbled in doubles to fall behind 1-0 at the start of the match. With windy conditions forcing play indoors, the Tigers wasted little time extending their lead. Junior David Wolff fell behind early in his No. 6 singles match, falling 6-1, 6-1 to Milan Krnjetin in Wolff’s first dual match action since the end of February. After playing doubles, freshman Ivan Machado did not play singles for the first time since the same date, leaving a spot for Wolff.
Senior Jaime Cuellar also claimed just two games in his straight-set loss in the No. 3 spot, and No. 106 Tim Puet sealed the match for Auburn with a 6-4, 6-4 win over junior Pedro Campos.
Cressoni, ranked No. 123 in the country, battled to a tie-breaker in the first set against Alex Petropoulus, collecting the victory, then cruised to a 6-0 win in the second-set to put the Gamecocks on the board. In the No. 4 position, sophomore Johannes Pulsfort dropped the first set 6-2 but was battling in the second set, sending it to a tie-breaker. Pulsfort narrowly missed going for his third-straight victory as he fell in the tie-breaker 7-3. No. 59 Alexey Tsyrenov used a late service break in the first set and needed just one break in the second set to dispatch No. 52 Diego Cubas in the No. 1 singles spot to close out the match.
South Carolina heads to No. 15 Alabama next, playing its final road match of the regular season on Sun., April 12, at 2 p.m. (ET).
No. 27 Auburn 6, No. 24 South Carolina 1
Doubles: (Order of Finish: 3, 1, 2)
1. (11) Alexey Tsyrenov/Tim Puetz (AU) def. (28) Diego Cubas/Ivan Machado (SC) 8-2
2. Lukas Marsoun/Alex Stamchev (AU) def. Pedro Camps/Ivan Cressoni (SC) 8-4
3. Milan Krnjetin/Michel Monteiro (AU) def. Jaime Cuellar/Johannes Pulsfort (SC) 8-6
Singles: (Order of Finish: 6, 3, 2, 5, 4, 1)
1. (59) Alexey Tsyrenov (AU) def. (52) Diego Cubas (SC) 7-5, 6-4
2. (106) Tim Puetz (AU) def. Pedro Campos (SC) 6-4, 6-4
3. Lukas Marsoun (AU) def. Jaime Cuellar (SC) 6-0, 6-2
4. Alex Stamchev (AU) def. Johannes Pulsfort (SC) 6-2, 7-6 (3)
5. (123) Ivan Cressoni (SC) def. Alex Petropoulos (AU) 7-6, 6-0
6. Milan Krnjetin (AU) def. David Wolff (SC) 6-1, 6-1
