Aug. 5, 2011

KALAMAZOO, Mich. – Four South Carolina men’s tennis players opened play in the USTA Boys 18 National Championships Friday, and three Gamecocks advanced to Saturday action. Sophomore Chip Cox led the way with both a singles and doubles win on the afternoon. Incoming freshmen Andrew Adams, Ben Barnette and Kyle Koch saw Friday action as well.

Fresh off their third-place finish in the USTA Boys 18 National Clay Court Championships, Cox and Adams used a third-set super tiebreaker to get passed Wayne Harrell and Richard Robbie in the first round after the two tandems split the first two sets 6-3, 3-6. The Gamecock duo won the first set of its second-round match against Sam Bloom and Colton Buffington, but saw its opponent score a late-set service break to win the second set 7-5. Bloom and Buffington went on to win the resulting third-set super tiebreaker to end Cox and Adams’ run.

Cox was in the midst of a busy day as he also reached the second round of singles action. He rolled to a 6-3, 6-1 win over Jonathan Carcione in the first round, setting up a second-round matchup with No. 1 seed Jack Sock on Saturday. Adams, meanwhile, drew a first-round bye in singles and will kick off his individual campaign on Saturday.

Koch and Barnette teamed up on the doubles side, but exited in the first round. Barnette suffered the same fate in the singles draw. Koch’s first-round bye as him set to play Alex Sidney in a second-round match on Saturday.

Click here to learn more about the event and follow the action.

Singles
First Round
Chip Cox def. Jonathan Carcione 6-3, 6-1
Andrew Adams – Bye
Kyle Koch – Bye

Doubles
First Round
Chip Cox/Andrew Adams def. Wayne Harrell/Richard Robbie 6-3, 3-6, 1-0
Sam Bloom/Colton Buffington def. Kyle Koch/Ben Barnette 4-6, 7-5, 1-0

Second Round
Jeffrey Brown/Becker O’Shaughnessey def. Cox/Adams 7-6, (2), 6-2