USF waited more than seven hours and battled through a change in venue due to weather, but the Bulls persevered for a 4-3 win against Alabama in the first round of the NCAA Men’s Tennis Championship Friday.
 
The Bulls provided the American Athletic Conference’s only win of the first round as UCF dropped a 4-3 heartbreaker to Florida State, while Tulane fell 4-1 to South Alabama.
 
USF which won the American Athletic Conference Championship last week, earned the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA tournament and made the most of its opportunity to defeat the No. 23-ranked Crimson Tide.
 
The Bulls advanced to the second round of the NCAA Championship for the fifth time in six years. The Bulls will face No. 2 Texas Saturday.
 
 
USF 4, Alabama 3
Ivan Yatsuk won a second-set tiebreaker at No. 6 singles to cap a straight-set victory and send USF on to the second round of the NCAA Championship with a 4-3 win against Alabama in Austin, Texas.
 
Yatsuk’s clincher came more than seven hours after the match began Friday as a lengthy rain and lightning delay forced the match to be concluded on indoor courts.
 
USF held a 1-0 lead going into the weather delay as the Bulls claimed wins at No. and No. 3 doubles. The Bulls quickly gained a 2-0 lead when play resumed as Chase Ferguson scored a 6-4, 6-1 win at No. 2 singles.
 
Alabama got on the board with a straight-set win at No. 5, but the Bulls built a 3-1 cushion on Pierre Luquet’s three-set win at No. 3.
 
Needing to win both remaining courts to stay alive, the Crimson Tide claimed a third-set tiebreaker at No. 1 in a battle of nationally ranked players. No. 47 Mazen Osama of Alabama edged American Player of the Year and 15th-ranked Alberto Barroso-Campos 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 to tie the match at 3-3.
 
Yatsuk had battled to a 7-5 first-set victory in the deciding match, and he held off Alabama’s bid to force a deciding third set by taking the second-set tiebreaker 7-3.
 
 
Florida State 4, UCF 3
UCF’s season came to an end at the hands of Florida State, which beat the Knights 4-3 in a first-round match in Gainesville, Florida. The Knights finished the 2019 season at 15-11.
 
Florida State’s Martin Jalif won the deciding point at No. 3 singles as he battled back from a one-set deficit to claim a 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 win. The match was tied at 3-all in the third set before Jalif took the next three games, including the final points after a three-hour rain delay.
 
UCF’s Juan Pablo Grassi Mazzuchi had tied the match late with a 7-6 (1), 6-1 win at No. 4 singles to make it 3-3 before all eyes turned to the match at No. 3.
 
UCF had built an early 1-0 lead by taking wins at No. 2 and No. 3 doubles to offset a rare setback by the Knights’ all-conference tandem at No. 1, as No. 18 Trey Hilderbrand and Bogdan Pavel saw a nine-match winning streak end.
 
With Florida State needing four of the six singles matches, the Seminoles put two in the bank quickly with striaght-set wins at No. 5 and No. 2. UCF’s Mikhail Sokolovskiy leveled the match at 2-2 with a 6-3, 6-3 victory at No. 6, but the Seminoles took a 3-2 lead after No. 30-ranked Lucas Poullain scored a straight-set win against No. 43 Gabriel Decamps at the No. 1 spot.
 
 
 
South Alabama 4, Tulane 1
Tulane’s 2019 campaign came to an end in a 4-1 defeat to South Alabama in the first round of the NCAA Championship Friday morning on the campus of Mississippi State University.
 
The No. 3 seed in the regional, South Alabama (19-6) took early control in doubles with a 6-1 win in the No. 3 spot, but Tulane’s (14-13) No. 2 tandem of Akos Kotorman and Hamish Stewart pushed its winning streak to seven in a row with a 6-2 win to even things up. The Jaguars would clinch the first point however with a 6-3 triumph on court one to take a 1-0 lead into singles.
 
The second-seeded Green Wave struck first in singles and tied up the overall match, 1-1, when Stewart cruised to a 6-2, 6-0 win over Clement Marzol. The Jaguars remained in control however, scoring four first-set wins on courts 1, 4, 5 and 6, respectively.
 
 
NCAA DIVISION I MEN’S TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIP
American Athletic Conference Pairings
 
First Round | May 3
at Gainesville, Fla.
Florida State 4, UCF 3
 
at Starkville, Miss.
South Alabama 4, Tulane 1
 
at Austin, Texas
USF 4, Alabama 3
Texas 4, Tennessee Tech 0

Second Round | May 4
at Austin, Texas
USF (18-7) at Texas (24-3)