Rodrigues, Thomson Earn Individual NCAA Championship Spots
COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina men’s tennis sophomore Daniel Rodrigues and freshman Connor Thomson earned at-large selections in the NCAA Singles and Doubles Championships with Rodrigues named the overall No. 2 seed in the singles draw. It is the first individual championship selection for both Gamecocks.
The 64-player singles event and 32-team doubles event will be held May 23-28 at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Fla., following the conclusion of the team championship.
An All-SEC First-Team selection, Rodrigues is currently ranked No. 2 in the nation and in March became the first Gamecock in program history to earn a No. 1 singles ranking. With a team-best 24-6 singles record, he is 10-3 against ranked opponents with those 10 wins ranking fifth in program history for single-season ranked victories. He is 4-1 this season against top-10 singles opponents.
After cracking the singles top 100 in late March, Thomson has been on a steady march up the rankings to his current No. 22 position. Playing in the Nos. 2 and 3 positions throughout the spring, he earned First-Team All-SEC honors with a 18-12 record on the season, including an 8-3 mark in SEC action. Two of his five wins over nationally ranked opponents came against top-20 foes, and Thomson has provided the Gamecocks’ match-clinching point a team-high tying five times in 15 team victories.
In doubles, the duo has played in the No. 1 spot in the lineup all season and currently rank No. 11 in the nation. They are 20-11 overall and 9-5 against ranked opponents, including five wins over top-20 tandems.
Gamecock sophomore Raphael Lambling was named an alternate in the singles draw and will have an opportunity to compete if any of the main draw entries withdraw from the event.
Rodrigues and Thomson will be the 59th and 60th Gamecock entries all-time in the singles draw, and a Gamecock has been in the singles bracket each of the last five championships. In doubles, the pair are the 17th selection in program history with the last coming in 2018. In the most recent individual championships, Paul Jubb claimed the 2019 Singles National Championship, the first in program history.
The 2021 singles draw includes 25 SEC selections, including seven of the top eight seeds and 10 of the 16 seeds overall. In doubles, 11 SEC duos were selected, earning four of the eight seeds.
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