Oct. 13, 2011

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – Two of South Carolina’s three doubles teams advanced to the round of 16 at the ITA Carolinas Regional Thursday evening. The Gamecocks’ ninth-seeded tandem of Andrew Adams and Nick Jones posted an 8-6 win after a first-round bye. Ivan Machado and Carl Eguez tallied a pair of wins on the first day of action in the event.

Machado and Eguez made their season debut as a doubles team with an 8-5 win over Dejon Bivens and Dylan Comerford of Winthrop. The Winthrop tandem broke first to go up 3-2, but the Gamecocks answered back immediately behind powerful returns from Machado, leveling the match at 3-3. After Eguez held with well-placed serves, South Carolina kept the pressure up with another break to surge ahead 5-3. Machado endured a lengthy service game, but delivered the tandem’s fourth-straight win for a 6-3 lead that the Gamecocks would not relinquish. The Gamecock duo seemed to have worked out the kinks of the first match in facing fourth-seeded Raphael Hemmeier and Fred Saba of Duke in the second round. Machado and Eguez jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead and never looked back en route to their 8-3 victory.

Following up their first round bye, Adams and Jones had a battle on their hands against UNC Asheville’s Adrien Langeard and Thomas Rees. But the Gamecock duo shook off the slow start to get a late service break and secure a spot in the round of 16.

Kyle Koch and Chip Cox got the Gamecocks started on the right foot with an efficient 8-3 win over Winthrop’s Yuta Hirokawa and Rich Meade. The Gamecock tandem broke Hirokawa’s serve in the first and last games of the match, and Koch’s serving was too much for the Winthrop duo to handle through much of the match. He put his side up 5-1 with a big serving game, including an ace up the T on game point. Koch and Cox faced the hard-serving, power-hitting duo of David Holland and Jason Tahir of Duke in the second round. The Gamecocks fought back from down a break to level the match at 2-2 and stay on serve through the next four games, but Duke scored a second break on Koch’s service game for a 5-4 lead and tallied the next three games as well to win the match 8-4.

Doubles action for Machado/Eguez and Adams/Jones resumes on Saturday. All six Gamecocks, plus Ben Barnette will kick off singles play on Friday.

South Carolina Results

Doubles Round of 64
Kyle Koch/Chip Cox (SC) def. Yuta Hirokawa/Rich Meade (WU) 8-3
Ivan Machado/Carl Eguez (SC) def. Dejon Bivens/Dylan Comerford (WU) 8-5

Doubles Round of 32
Machado/Eguez (SC) def. Raphael Hemmeier/Fred Saba (Duke) 8-3
Andrew Adams/Nick Jones (SC) def. Adrien Langeard/Thomas Rees (UNCA) 8-6
David Holland/Jason Tahir (Duke) def. Koch/Cox (SC) 8-4