Friedrich, Jubb Advance to Round of 32
May 23, 2018
NCAA Singles Championship Round of 64
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — No. 40 Gabriel Friedrich and No. 59 Paul Jubb of South Carolina men’s tennis both locked up spots in the NCAA Singles Championship round of 32 with first round wins on Wednesday at the Wake Forest Tennis Complex. Friedrich defeated No. 21 Alex Rybakov 6-4, 7-6 (3) of TCU while Jubb took down No. 32 Benjamin Sigouin 6-4, 7-6 (6) to advance to Thursday’s second round.
Friedrich picked up his second career NCAA Singles Championship win in his third-consecutive appearance in the NCAA individual championships.
Making his NCAA Singles Championship debut, Jubb picked up his seventh win over a ranked opponent this season.
Jubb (SC) vs Sigouin (UNC)
Paul Jubb fell behind 3-0 early in the opening set but fought out a pair of breaks to get back even at 3-3. Jubb then held serve on his next three chances to take the set 6-4.
Jubb dropped a break early in the second set before picking up a break of his own to even the set at 2-2. Both players held serve all the way to a tiebreaker, in which Jubb pulled away with back-to-back points to win 8-6.
Friedrich (SC) vs Rybakov (TCU)
Friedrich earned the first break of the match with a huge forehand to win a deuce point and go up 3-2. The two were neck-and-neck throughout the opening set, but Friedrich prevailed by winning three separate deuce points then holding serve to take the set 6-4.
The pair of ITA top-40 players went back-and-forth again in the second set, eventually holding serve from 5-5 to force a tiebreaker.
Friedrich served first and won the first three points of the breaker. He would go on to win back-to-back points to take a commanding 6-2 lead before eventually closing the match out with a 7-3 win in the tiebreak.
UP NEXT
Friedrich will face the winner of Guanarteme Nuez of UT Arlington and Borna Gojo of Wake Forest tomorrow in the round of 32 ,while Jubb awaits the winner of Mikael Torpegaard of Ohio State and Michael Geerts of Arizona State. Friedrich will also join doubles partner Yancy Dennis tomorrow afternoon as they take on Carlos Divar and Michael Kay of Georgia Tech at 4 p.m.
For men’s tennis updates, continue to check back with GamecocksOnline.com or follow the team on social media (@GamecockMTennis).
