May 21, 2009

COLLEGE STATION, Texas – South Carolina men’s tennis season came to an end on Thursday as junior Diego Cubas suffered a 7-6 (1), 6-4 defeat to No. 36 Jay Weinacker of NC State in the second round of the NCAA Singles Championship, and the nation’s No. 24 doubles team of Cubas and freshman Ivan Machado fell 6-4, 7-5 to the No. 15 duo of Raony Cavalho and Christian Rojmar of Texas Tecch in the NCAA Doubles Championship first round.

Coming off a three-set upset of the nation’s No. 4 player yesterday, Cubas got up on Weinacker early with a break of serve to lead 2-1. The Gamecocks’ top singles player found himself in a 15-40 hole in the next game, but fought off the two break points and extended his lead to 3-1. Weinacker had found the cracks in the Cubas serve, however, and, two games later, had the match back on serve at 3-3.

With the set level at 5-5, Cubas pushed Weinacker’s service game, but saw the senior All-ACC selection deliver a service winner and a passing shot to hold. Fittingly, Cubas held his serve with a passing shot on the run to send the set to the tiebreaker. In the final throes of the set, Weinacker used his serve to force Cubas behind the baseline, from where it was difficult to create angles for winners. A pair of unforced errors on the forehand side and a double fault put Cubas in a hole from which he could not recover, and Weinacker won the tiebreaker 7-1.

In the second set, Cubas was on the ropes right out of the gate, fighting off a series of break points in his marathon first service game. He seemed to find a comfortable rhythm in a routine service game to go up 4-3, punctuating the win with an ace. After Weinacker put together his own relatively straight-forward service game, Cubas lost his previous momentum, falling into a love-40 deficit. He rallied to win the next three points, including another ace, to get back to deuce. Weinacker worked the next point to perfection, setting up an easy volley to the open court to earn another break point, which he won when Cubas’ shot sailed long. Another solid service game delivered the victory for Weinacker and ended the first half of Cubas’ day.

In the evening doubles match, the Gamecock duo struggled with its serve right away. After getting the initial break right back, Machado dropped his service game to give the Texas Tech tandem the edge again. Cubas and Machado both solved their serving woes, but could not crack the Red Raiders and dropped the first set 6-4.

South Carolina’s top doubles team had Texas Tech down on its first service game, falling just short of collecting the early break. In the next game, Machado had a battle on his hands, serving to six deuces before his volley on break point sailed just over the end line to give Tech a 2-1 advantage. The Gamecock freshman was under pressure in his next service game as well, but Cubas knocked off a nice volley to save break point. Machado finished off the game with a pair of service winners to keep the Gamecocks within a game a 3-4.

The rally carried over into the next game with Cubas hitting a crisp return and punching a volley to set up break point. A double fault delivered the break to get the set back on serve. With the teams even a 5-5, it was Machado serving under pressure yet again. Back-to-back return winners had the Gamecocks in a Love-40 hole, from which they could not recover. The Gamecocks held off one match point in the next game, but, down 40-30, were scrambling on the next point and fell 7-5.

Cubas ends his career-best season with a 21-16 singles record, which includes a pair of wins over top-five opponents. He and Machado posted a team-best 15-12 doubles record, including wins over six top-40 opponents.