From Emory University Athletics
The Emory University men's tennis team enjoyed an outstanding opening day of action on Friday at the ITA South Region Championships. The Championships are being held at the Rome Tennis Center and hosted by Berry College.
Nine of the 10 Eagles competing in the Main Singles Draw captured their opening two matches and have advanced to Saturday's Round of 16. Junior Jonathan Jemison, the No. 1 seed, beat Owen Taylor of Belhaven, 6-1, 6-0, in his first match before dispatching Mark Sokolov of North Carolina Wesleyan, 6-0, 6-3. Jemison will square off against Jack Gray of Sewanee on Saturday in a scheduled 9:00 a.m. start. Junior Adrien Bouchet moved into Saturday's action after bettering Matt Magee of Oglethorpe, 6-2, 6-1, and Ryan Miner of Berry, 6-2, 6-0. Bocuhet's Round of 16 opponent will be Ryan Olps of Sewanee. Senior Scott Rubinstein won a three-set slugfest in his opener vs. Roberto Puig of NC Wesleyan, 6-4, 4-6, 7-5, before defeating Birmingham Southern's Jacob Weinacker in the second round, 6-4, 6-4. Rubinstein will square off against Diego Marti Vertiz (Millsaps) on Saturday. All three of Emory's freshmen came up with two wins with Hayden Cassone posting a 6-1, 6-1, decision against Elijah Gregory of Guilford and a 6-3, 6-1, verdict against Josh Shearin of Millsaps. Cassone will look to stay alive on Saturday when he matches up against JD Telles of NC Wesleyan.
Alec Rabinowitz and Will Wanner will meet each other in Saturday's Round of 16 after their two wins. Rabinowitz notched a 7-6, 6-3 triumph over Graham Pearson of Guilford before upending Ioannis Brokakis of NC Wesleyan, 6-3, 6-2. Wanner rolled to a victory against Berry College's Griffin Davis before rallying for a 5-7, 6-4, 6-1 triumph vs. Covenant College's Matthew Harvie. Sophomore Rex Serituk will meet No. 2 Sebastian Sikh of NC Wesleyan on Saturday after topping Reid Rose of Methodist (6-1, 6-3) and Jordan Brewer of Sewanee (6-0, 6-0). Senior Alex Josepher and junior James Spaulding have advanced and will see each other on Saturday. Josepher disposed of Arpit Rana of Centre before defeating Alejandro Centurion of Millsaps, 6-2, 6-1. Spaulding emerged with a 6-2, 6-1 win against Sairam Gudiseva of Rhodes before winning against Andres Carro of Sewanee, 7-5, 6-2.
Emory was dominant in doubles with all five of its teams winning twice and advancing to the Main Draw quarterfinals. Highlighting the effort was the No. 1 tandem of Rubinstein and Spaulding who opened with and 8-3 win over NC Wesleyan's David Chang and Telles. In the quarters, Rubinstein and Spaulding prevailed over Anthony Pellegrini and Weinacker from BSC, 8-1. The Emory pair will meet Belhaven's Joan Soler and Maurico Gonzalez on Saturday at 2:00 p.m. Other Eagle doubles teams to move into Saturday play included Bouchet and Wanner, senior Max Renke and classmate David Omsky, Serituk and Josepher and Jemison and Cassone.