WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – Southeastern men's tennis' impressive showing at the ITA Florida Regional Championships ended in fitting fashion, with an all-SEU doubles final.
The Fire saw two teams advance to the doubles final, and it was the second-seeded duo of
Pedro De La Riva and
Gonzalo Fernandez who secured the championship with a 7-6 (8-6), 6-3 victory over top-seeded
Piero Fernandez and
Alejandro Bancalari.
De La Riva and
Gonzalo Fernandez convincingly advanced through the bracket after receiving an opening-round walkover. The duo dispatched Cruz Yanel and Max Kiramyr of the College of Coastal Georgia, 8-1. They followed with an 8-2 quarterfinal victory over teammates
Daniel Garcia Suarez and
Aristeidis Lafazanos before getting past third-seeded Kacper Laskowski and Francisco Duran of New College of Florida, 8-3, in the semifinals.
Piero Fernandez and Bancalari also received an opening-round walkover before knocking off St. Thomas' Jan Gewaltig and William Rosencrantz, 8-2. The Fire pairing then toppled another St. Thomas duo, Lucas Martinez and Ivan Menendez Soto, 8-5, in the quarterfinals. A semifinal matchup against Keiser's David Lopez and Alexander Orlov resulted in an 8-4 Southeastern victory and set up the all-Fire championship match.
Garcia Suarez and Lafazanos added two doubles victories of their own, besting Keiser's Teano Balducci and Viktor Kana, 8-2, before taking down St. Thomas' Jeremy Diaz and Alexander Sagarra, 8-1. Their run came to an end against eventual champions De La Riva and
Gonzalo Fernandez in the quarterfinals.
Southeastern was also impressive in singles play, where second-seeded
Piero Fernandez advanced to the semifinals. After an opening-round walkover, Fernandez cruised past Ave Maria's Joao Almeida, 6-2, 6-2. He then rallied from a set down against College of Coastal Georgia's Geronimo Dolci to earn a 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 victory.
Fernandez continued his run by topping Keiser's seventh-seeded Alexander Orlov, 7-5, 6-4, in the quarterfinals before meeting sixth-seeded Oliver King of Keiser in the semifinals. Fernandez captured a first-set tiebreak before King rallied to take the match, 6-7 (2-7), 6-2, 6-1, ending Fernandez's singles run one victory shy of the championship match.
Garcia Suarez also made a deep run through the singles bracket. He opened by dispatching Keiser's Alin Boldu, 6-2, 6-3, and followed by getting past St. Thomas' Ivan Menendez Soto, 6-1, 6-4. Garcia Suarez then upset fifth-seeded Carlos Quinones of New College of Florida, 7-6 (7-3), 6-2, before his run ended against eventual tournament champion David Lopez of Keiser in a three-set battle, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.
De La Riva, the No. 3 seed, added a singles victory over New College of Florida's Kacper Laskowski, 6-0, 6-3, before being edged by Keiser's Felipe Rivadeneira in three sets, 3-6, 7-6 (7-2), 6-3.
Gonzalo Fernandez, the No. 4 seed, earned a 6-1, 7-5 win over St. Thomas' Lucas Martinez before bowing out against Lopez, while Lafazanos took down SCAD's Yu Dian Dong, 6-3, 6-4, before Lopez halted his run in the following round.
Eighth-seeded Bancalari rounded out Southeastern's singles competitors, advancing by walkover before dropping a 6-4, 6-4 decision to St. Thomas' Aymen Jouhari.
Piero Fernandez earned a bid to the ITA Cup with his semifinal finish in singles. The doubles finalists—De La Riva,
Gonzalo Fernandez, Bancalari and
Piero Fernandez—also earned bids to the ITA Cup.
The ITA Cup is set to take place in Rome, Ga., at the Rome Tennis Center. Before making the trip to Rome, the Fire will prepare with a round-robin-style event at the Embry-Riddle Invite in Daytona Beach, Fla., on Oct. 2.
