AUBURN, Ala. (EETV)- Auburn sophomore Hamza Nasridinov and doubles duo Billy Blaydes and Freddy Blaydes secured their bids to the NCAA Championships through the ITA South Sectional Championships at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex in Athens, Ga. this past week.
Nasridinov began his week on Thursday, competing against Georgia Tech’s Jonathan Irwanto in the first round of singles play. He defeated Irwanto in straight sets (6-1, 6-2) and advanced to Friday’s match vs. Kentucky’s Charlelie Cosnet, where he defeated Cosnet in straight sets (6-3, 6-4) as well. On Saturday, Nasridinov faced Purdue’s #21 Aleksa Krivokapic in the quarterfinal with a singles championship bid on the line, and Nasridinov upset the favorite, winning the first set 7-6 (6) in dramatic fashion and sweeping with a 6-3 victory in the second set.
“To get Hamza through to the NCAA Tournament – he's had an unbelievable fall, so I’m happy for him and all the hard work he’s put in,” Auburn head coach Bobby Reynolds said. “I’m happy with the way his game is progressing.”
Meanwhile, in doubles, the #20 ranked duo of Billy and Freddy Blaydes also began their week on Thursday and met a tough opponent in the first round of the ITA South Sectional Championships. The Blaydes brothers took the first set 7-5, but Georgia’s #84 duo of Derrick Chen and Santiago Giamichelle won the second set 3-6, and a [10-5] third-set tiebreaker positioned Billy and Freddy Blaydes into the next round.
The next round saw an Iron Bowl matchup between the Blaydes brothers and Alabama’s Jacob Olar and Andrii Zimnokh. The Alabama duo took the first set 6-7, but Auburn’s duo won the next two sets 6-4, [10-8]. With a doubles championship bid on the line, Indiana’s Sam Landau and Facundo Yunis stood in the way of the Blaydes brothers. However, this match proved to be the quickest of the three, as the Blaydes won in straight sets (6-2, 6-3) and punched their ticket to Orlando.
“To have brothers playing together, we’ve worked through differences throughout the fall, but they put it together when it mattered in sectionals and beat some great teams,” Reynolds said.
The three athletes will compete from Nov. 18-23 at the USTA National Campus in Orlando. Nasridinov and Freddy Blaydes will be making their NCAA Championships debut, while Billy Blaydes will be returning for a second year in a row after making it to the NCAA Doubles Championships last year with recent Auburn men’s tennis alum Will Nolan.
“We’re continuing to build, taking our opportunities when we have them and making the most of it,” Reynolds said. “We’ll go back to work these next two weeks, focusing on some things we saw in sectionals to keep building for the future.”
Coverage of the NCAA Singles and Doubles Championships will be available on ESPN+.
