BERKELEY, Calif. – Santa Clara men's tennis advanced two doubles squads and sophomore Robert Seby in singles on the opening day of competition at the USTA/ITA Northwest Regional Championships on Thursday. Friday's doubles matches will be played indoors due to expected rain and the schedule for singles matches is dependent upon the weather as well.
Freshman Jesus Tapiador Barajas and sophomore Kamran Khan defeated Joao Barra and Sebastien Hawken (Washington), 8-7 (4) in a tough round of 64 match to start the doubles tournament. The duo will face No. 3 seed Andre Goransson and Billy Griffith (California) at 9:45 a.m. PT on Friday.
"I think Kam (Khan) and Jesus (Barajas) had their best doubles match yet," head coach Niall Angus said. "They are becoming more of a partnership every day. Now they get the chance to test themselves against some of the best players, not only in the region, but also in the country. In playing the duo from Cal, they have a chance to see what the highest level is like and that'll be a fun test."
In another highly contested match, Seby and sophomore Connor Garnett advanced to the round of 32 by defeating Carlos Donat and Pierre Garcia (Portland), 8-7 (6). In the next round, the Broncos will face No. 6 seed Euan McIntosh and Yousef Hassan (Fresno State) on Friday at 8:30 a.m. PT.
"Rob (Seby) and Connor (Garnett) are continuing their strong partnership from last year," Angus said. " They beat a good conference team which is always good. Now they will play a good doubles team from Fresno State. I think they have the potential to win that and go even further."
Seby advanced to the round of 32 in the singles competition as well. The sophomore and No. 17 seed, had a bye in the first round, then defeated Yale Goldberg (Stanford) in the round of 64, 6-3, 6-1. He will face another Pac-12 foe on Friday in Billy Griffith (California). The time of their match has yet to be determined due to the likelihood of rain on Friday.
"It was a really positive day," Angus said. "People who didn't have such a good time at UC Davis really stepped up and got some rewards from their play today. Rob (Seby), Kam (Khan), (Andrew) Gu all made good strides. Jesus (Barajas) is a work in progress but he's beginning to understand it. He just needs to keep working. Connor (Garnett) understands where he needs to go and is ready to work hard for it."
USTA/ITA Northwest Regional Championships – Thursday Results
Oct. 13-17, 2016 at Hellman Tennis Complex
Singles
Round of 128
SC Connor Garnett d. SEA No. 17ArshakGhazaryan[17] 7-5;7-6(3)
POR Pierre Garcia d. SC Vasileios Iliopoulos 6-4;6-2
SC Jesus Tapiador Barajas d. SEA Trenton Nield 6-4;6-2
FS Xander Veys d. SC Max Heerinckx 6-3;6-0
SC Andrew Gu d. POR Alex Wallace 6-3;7-6(4)
SC Kamran Khan d. PAC Lance Ngo 7-5;2-6;6-0
SC Robert Seby bye
Round of 64
ST William Geneson d. SC Connor Garnett 6-1;6-4
CAL Bjorn Hoffman[17] d. SC Jesus Tapiador Barajas 6-2;6-1
FS Euan McIntosh[16] d. SC Andrew Gu 6-1;6-3
SC Robert Seby[17] d. ST Yale Goldberg 6-3;6-1
DAV Bryce McKelvie[17] d. SC Kamran Khan 6-3;4-6;6-3
Doubles
Round of 64
SC Connor Garnett - SC Robert Seby d. POR CarlosDonat - POR Pierre Garcia 8-7(6)
POR Alex Wallace - POR Felix Fan d. SC Andrew Gu - SC Vasileios Iliopoulos 8-3
SC Jesus Tapiador Barajas - SC Kamran Khan d. UW Joao Barra - UW Sebastien Hawken 8-7(4)
