Clemson, S.C. — The Clemson men’s tennis team (2-0, 0-0 ACC) picked up a pair of victories in the Duckworth Classic on Saturday to open the 2021 season. The Tigers first swept Chattanooga (0-1, 0-0 SoCon), 7-0, in their early match and then went on to defeat Wofford (0-1, 0-0 SoCon), 6-1.
Box Score
The Tigers took control of their match against Chattanooga early, earning the doubles point at lines three and one. Carlos Kelaidis and Spencer Whitaker swept their opponents on Court 3 followed closely behind by Ryuhei Azuma and Jacob Jahn who won, 6-2, on Court 1. In singles, Teodor Giusca (6-1, 6-0), Jahn (6-0, 6-0) and Kelaidis (6-3, 6-2) strung together wins to clinch the match for the Tigers. Yizhou Liu, who returned to the court for the first time since January 2020, won the top court, 7-6 (7-3), 6-3. Additionally, first-year Tigers Azuma and Jorge Plans Gonzalez each earned their first career singles victories, winning, 7-6(7-5), 6-3, and, 7-5, 6-4, at lines four and five, respectively.
The program notched its 12th-consecutive win against Wofford in its 6-1 victory on Saturday night. The Tigers took all three doubles matches as Guisca and Daniel Labrador downed their Court 3 opponents, 6-2, followed closely behind by Jahn and Azuma, 6-3, who picked up their second doubles-clinching victory of the day. Liu and Plans Gonzalez prevailed 7-5 at line two after the teams elected to finish out the match. The top three courts finished in numerical order to clinch the Clemson victory. At No. 1 Giusca defeated Williams, 6-3, 6-0, No. 2 Liu downed Rendle, 6-0, 6-1 and No. 3 Azuma beat Ray, 6-3, 6-1. Whitaker, in his first career singles match, won, 7-5, 6-1, over Keim and Plans Gonzalez bested Losada, 6-3, 6-4.
The Tigers are back in action on Saturday, Jan. 23 when they host South Florida at 2 p.m at The Duckworth Family Tennis Facility.
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