ATHENS-----All eight top seeds including Georgia’s Nate Schnugg, Jamie Hunt and Javier Garrapiz won opening round matches to advance at the ITA Southeast Regional Friday at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex. Christian Vitulli, Drake Bernstein and Borja Malo also advanced to the round of 32.

Top-seeded and defending champion Schnugg beat Florida Atlantic’s Lawrence Harradine, 6-0, 6-4, sixth-seeded Hunt downed Florida A&M’s David Jackson, 6-3, 6-1, and seventh-seeded Garrapiz led Florida State’s Andrew Bucaro 7-5, 1-6, 2-0 when Bucaro went down with an injury.

Vitulli defeated Miami’s David Simon, 6-4, 6-4, Bernstein cruised past the Hurricane’s Hector Nieto, 6-1, 6-0, and Malo beat Juan Malian-Puigventos of Georgia Southern, 6-2, 6-7(4), 7-6(5).

“I thought today was a great day for us,” head coach Manuel Diaz said. “I was pleased not only in our results but also in the way we competed and the way we showed support for each other on the court. It was a tremendous day. We know that the tournament will get tougher as we get deeper, but today couldn’t have gone much better.”

In doubles, Georgia had three teams advance to the quarterfinals. The second-ranked and defending champion duo of Schnugg and Hunt beat Georgia Southern’s Alain Garido and Malian-Puigventos, 8-4, then downed Miami’s Chrisitian Blocker and David Simon, 8-5, in the round of 16. Bernstein and Garrapiz also advanced with an 8-1 win over Florida A&M’s David Jackson and Michael Moore, and an 8-6 victory over Marc Abdelnour and Georg Matschke of Florida Atlantic. Malo and Vitulli topped Georgia Tech’s Dusan Miljevic and Miguel Muguruza, 8-4, then rallied from a 7-4 deficit to edge Florida State’s Clint Bowles and Andrew Bucaro, 9-8(9).

Alex Hill and Will Reynolds were both eliminated from the singles draw as Hill fell to Georgia Southern’s Alain Garrido, 6-2, 6-4 and Reynolds fell to Blocker, 6-0, 4-6, 6-4. In doubles, the duo fell to Florida Gulf Coast’s Thibaud Aime and Matt Rock, 8-6.

The remaining top-eight seeds including Georgia Tech’s Guillermo Gomez, Florida’s Carlos Cueto and Alex Lacroix, Bowles and Miami’s Carl Sundberg were all victorious on Friday.

Play begins Saturday with doubles quarterfinals at 9 a.m., followed by round of 32 singles starting at 11 a.m. The singles and doubles winners advance to the ITA National Indoor Tournament in November.


Georgia Agate
Singles Round of 64
Nate Schnugg (1) (UGA) def. Lawrence Harradine (Florida Atlantic), 6-0, 6-4
Christian Blocker (Miami) def. Will Reynolds (UGA), 6-0, 4-6, 6-4
Alain Garrido (Georgia Southern) def. Alex Hill (UGA), 6-2, 6-4
Christian Vitulli (UGA) def. David Simon (Miami), 6-4, 6-4
No. 37 Jamie Hunt (4) (UGA) def. David Jackson (FAMU), 6-3, 6-1
No. 38 Javier Garrapiz (7) (UGA) def. Andrew Bucaro (FSU), 7-5, 1-6, 2-0, ret., inj.
Drake Bernstein (UGA) def. Hector Nieto (Miami), 6-1, 6-0
Borja Malo (UGA) def. Juan Melian-Puigventos (Georgia Southern), 6-2, 6-7(4), 7-6(5)

Doubles Round of 32
No. 2 Nate Schnugg/Jamie Hunt (UGA) def. Alain Garrido/Juan Melian-Puigventos (Georgia Southern), 8-4
Thibaud Aime/Matt Rock (Florida Gulf Coast) def. Alex Hill/Will Reynolds (UGA), 8-6
Drake Bernstein/Javier Garrapiz (UGA) def. David Jackson/Michael Moore (FAMU), 8-1
Christian Vitulli/Borja Malo (UGA) def. Dusan Miljevic/Miguel Muguruza (Georgia Tech), 8-4

Doubles Round of 16
No. 2 Nate Schnugg/Jamie Hunt (UGA) def. Christian Blocker/David Simon (Miami), 8-5
Drake Bernstein/Javier Garrapiz (UGA) def. Marc Abdelnour/Georg Matschke (Florida Atlantic), 8-6
Borja Malo/Christian Vitulli (UGA) def. Clint Bowles/Andres Bucaro (Florida State), 9-8(9)