BATON ROUGE — Four LSU men’s tennis players advanced to the second round of the Southeastern Conference Indoor Championships with wins on Friday in Tuscaloosa, Ala.
In early matches, sophomores Dan Kiernan and Jesse Smatt each pulled out three-set victories to advance. Kiernan fought back from one-set down to beat Mississippi State’s Chris McDonald 3-6, 6-1, 6-2. He will meet eighth-seeded Alex Hartman of Ole Miss in the second round.
Smatt, facing Travis Parrott of Georgia, held on late in the third set for a hard-fought 6-4, 2-6, 7-5 victory. Smatt meets fifth-seeded Francisco Rodriguez of Alabama in round two.
Ajay Ramaswami made good in his first taste of SEC action. The junior advanced in straight sets, 6-3, 6-3, over Brian Isern of Alabama. Awaiting Ramaswami in the second round is sixth-seeded James Shortall.
Third-seeded Tom Hand became the fourth Tiger of the day to advance to the round of 32 with a 6-1, 7-6 (2) win over George Dubrara of Tennessee.
Second-seeded Michal Chmela of LSU withdrew from the singles tournament with a minor sprain in his back.
Doubles action begins Saturday morning with LSU being represented by four teams including two of the top six seeds.