Inclement Weather Cuts Charlotte Invitational in Half
10/12/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Charlotte, N.C. – Ramon Simonetti went 2-0 in singles play and 1-1 in doubles action to lead USC Upstate at the rain-shortened Charlotte Invitational from the Halton-Wagner Tennis Complex.
The tournament was scheduled for Friday, Saturday and Sunday, but inclement weather forced the postponement of several matches on Saturday and a complete cancellation on Sunday.
Simonetti opened play Friday with a 7-6 (4), 6-3 victory over Kaue Pereira of Coastal Carolina before downing Robert Stirling of James Madison by default on Saturday. Stirling pulled out of the match with Simonetti leading 3-2 in the first set. In doubles action, Simonetti and partner Matt Bennion turned in an 8-7 (5) win over Alex Berdnikoff and Stirling. Bennion earned a second doubles win playing with fellow freshman Felix Ewers, as the duo knocked off Stefan Jakubov and Jabor Al-Mutawa of Coastal Carolina 8-7 (4).
Sophomore Rajanvir Dharni picked up a 7-6 (6), 7-5 victory over Hunter Whalen of Coastal Carolina on day one, but his match against Miljan Ruzic of James Madison on Saturday went unfinished due to weather.
Freshman John Giakoumakis posted a 6-4, 1-6, 6-4 win over Jakubov on Friday, but also fell victim to bad weather in the middle of his Saturday match against Berdnikoff. Giakoumakis, however, did register an 8-7 (4) doubles victory over Ruzic and Sebastian Salinas playing alongside Viktor Selander.
Junior Jamie Yates and sophomore Pedro Carvalho defeated Whalen and Rick Timmerman 8-2 on day one to mark the fourth doubles victory of the tournament for the Spartans.
Upstate returns to the court Oct. 16-19 when the Spartans travel to Cary, N.C., to take part in the ITA Carolina Regional.
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