BATON ROUGE– The LSU men’s tennis team notched a victory in its SEC-opener against South Carolina 5-2 on Friday at W.T. “Dub” Robinson Stadium.
South Carolina picked up the early doubles point, but LSU came out strong in singles. LSU’s Julien Gauthier, Mark Bowtell and Stefan Szacinski each took the first set against his respective South Carolina opponent by a 6-1 mark.
Gauthier was the first to pick up a singles victory for LSU on court three with a straight-set win over Alexander Kostanov, 6-1, 6-3. The win is the first for Gauthier after returning from an injury early in the dual season.
Szacinski was the next off the courts and notched his third-straight victory with a 6-1, 6-4 mark over Ivan Machado on court four.
Bowtell advanced over Johannes Pulsfort on court five 6-1, 7-6 to earn his third-straight victory as well and positioned LSU to take the match with a 3-1 score over South Carolina.
LSU newcomer Olivier Borsos dealt the final blow to South Carolina in a three-set standoff with Ivan Cressoni on court six. After earning a 6-3 first-set mark, Borsos dropped the second set to Cressoni, 6-4. Borsos bounced back with a 6-3 third-set mark and clinched the victory for the Tigers with his first win at LSU.
“We had a great response to a very slow start in doubles,” LSU head coach Jeff Brown said. “We did what you have to do in that situation, which is to jump out to early leads on several courts and close as many as you can. We had three straight-set wins to set the table. Carlsson and Skupski did a good job of taking it to a third set and keeping the pressure off Borsos.”
After the clinch, LSU’s 44th-ranked Neal Skupski defeated South Carolina’s 65th-ranked Diego Cubas for his first ranked victory of the dual season, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4.
The win snapped South Carolina’s four-match win streak and boosted the Tigers’ all-time record over the Gamecocks to 24-7. LSU is now 3-5 on the season after winning its first conference match.
Seventh-ranked Florida rolls into Baton Rouge on Sunday for LSU’s second conference matchup slated for 1 p.m. at the “Dub.”
#73 LSU 5, #41 SOUTH CAROLINA 2
March 5, 2010
W.T. “Dub” Robinson Stadium
Baton Rouge, La.
Singles
1. #44 Neal Skupski (LSU) def. #65 Diego Cubas (USC), 4-6, 6-4, 6-4
2. Pedro Campos (USC) def. Sebastian Carlsson (LSU), 6-4, 2-6, 6-1
3. Julien Gauthier (LSU) def. Alexander Kostanov (USC), 6-1, 6-3
4. Stefan Szacinski (LSU) def. Ivan Machado (USC), 6-1, 6-4
5. Mark Bowtell (LSU) def. Johannes Pulsfort (USC), 6-1, 7-6
6. Olivier Borsos (LSU) def. Ivan Cressoni (USC), 6-3, 4-6, 6-3
Doubles
1. Cubas/Campos (USC) def. Skupski/Anderson (LSU), 8-2
2. Machado/Pulsfort (USC) def. Carlsson/Szacinski (LSU), 8-6
3. Cressoni/Kostanov (USC) def. Gauthier/Bowtell (LSU), 8-5
Order of Finish: Doubles (1,3,2); Singles (3, 4, 5, 6 ,2, 1)