LAS VEGAS – BYU’s Sean Hill, Ben Gajardo and Sam Tullis advanced to the singles round of 16 in the ITA Regional tournament.
“It was a good day for Cougar tennis as we advanced three players into the round of 16,” BYU head coach Brad Pearce said. “I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”
Hill, the No. 4 seeded player in singles, topped Facundo Tumosa of Northern Arizona University (NAU), 6-3, 7-5 in the first round. He then went on to defeat the University of Nevada, Reno’s (UNR) Kostya Nesterenko, 6-3, 3-7, 7-5.
Gajardo, seeded 13th, beat Air Force Academy’s (AFA) Isaac Perez, 6-1, 6-3. He advanced to the round of 16 with a straight set, 6-0, 6-0 win over Sean Huynh of the University of Denver (DU).
S. Tullis, who is seeded 12th in the tournament, beat Utah State’s (USU) Mitch Johnson 3-6, 6-2, 6-2. With a 7-6, 6-3 win over Motvey Radionov of UNR, he advanced to the round of 16.
Vinicius Feijoa Nogueira won his first singles match against Mauri Benitez of New Mexico State University (NMSU), 6-3, 6-3. He then fell to DU’s James Davis, 6-4, 6-0.
Hill and Jeffrey Hsu who are seeded first in the tournament in doubles, topped Tadhg Collins and Isaac Perez of AFA, 8-4.
Hsu fell to Duro Opacic of Utah State, 6-4, 6-1, in his first round singles match. In the consolation bracket, Hsu bounced back and defeated the University of New Mexico’s (UNM) Michael Tran, 6-2, 6-4.
Mateo Vereau Melendez lost his first singles match to Dan Little, 1-6, 6-2, 6-2, of the University of Utah. He then fell to Augustin Tamagnone of Southern Utah University, 3-6, 6-3, 10-7, in the consolation bracket.
S. Tullis and Gajardo fell 8-4 to Utah’s David Micevski and Slava Shainyan. Vereau and Nogueira lost to Randy Cory and Russell Benkaim of Utah, 8-2, in their doubles match of the day.
Doubles matches in the main and consolation draw will begin at 9 a.m., Wednesday, followed by singles matches at 10 a.m.
Hill and Hsu will continue competing in the doubles main draw, while S. Tullis, Gajardo, Vereau and Nogueira will play in the consolation doubles bracket.
Hill, S. Tullis and Gajardo will compete in the round of 16 in the main singles draw Wednesday. Hsu will continue his singles play in the consolation bracket of the tournament.