Lobos Advance Three to MW Quarterfinals
Las Vegas, Nev. — The Lobos advanced three players, Nicolas Recoura, Daniil Kakhniuk and Georgio Samaha to the quarterfinals of the inaugural Mountain West Tennis Qualifiers. The winners of singles and doubles advance to the NCAA Championships, which are being held in the fall for the first time.
Samaha won both of his matches as the No. 4 seed as six of the eight seeded players advanced to the quarterfinals. The two non seeded players to advance were Lobos in Kakhniuk, who defeated the No. 7 seed in Mohammad Alkotop of Utah State and Nicolas Recoura who defeated Eugenio Gonzales of San Diego State, the No. 8 seed.
Samaha moved to the quarterfinals with an easy 6-1, 6-2 win over San Diego State’s Denis Maijorov before a tighter 7-6 (7-5), 7-5 win. Down 5-4 in the opening set, Samaha won the final three games to set up his win.
Kakhniuk, back after missing almost all of last year with an injury, was the only player to take down a seed in the Round of 32, winning 7-5, 7-5 over Alkotop. He had an easier time in his second match to advance to the quarters with a 6-2, 7-5 win over SDSU’s Marc Kleber.
UNM’s other quarterfinalist Recoura picked up a dramatic opening round win 6-2, 7-6 (7-3) over UNLV’s Thomas Navarro before downing the eighth-seeded Gonzalez in a long 7-5, 6-7 (6-8), 6-1 win. The emphatic 6-1 third set win came after missing out on a match-point at 6-5 in the second-set tiebreaker. In that third set Recoura took the final five games.
Dario Ciobotaru won his opening round match over Boise State’s Dylan Jaen before falling to Air Force’s No. 2 Arjun Kersten. Aram Noroozian was the only Lobo to lose in the Round of 32, losing 6-7 (5-7), 6-3, 6-4 to Nevada’s Remy Tregourse.
Noroozian did team with Samaha as the No. 3 seeds in doubles, winning 8-0 to advance to the quarterfinals there along with Kakhnuik and Recoura, who beat Mico Fellonar and Romas Venger of Utah State.
Singles – Round of 32
Avery Tallakson d. Lukas Velik (BSU) 4-6, 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7-4)
Nicolas Recoura d. Thomas Navarro (UNLV) 6-2, 7-6 (7-3)
(4) Georgia Samaha d. Denis Maijorov (SDSU) 6-1, 6-2
Remy Tregoures (NEV) d. Aram Noroozian 6-7 (5-7), 6-3, 6-4
Daniil Kakhniuk d. (7) Mohammad Alkotop (USU) 7-5, 7-5
Dario Ciobotaru d. Dylan Jaen (BSU) 6-3, 5-7, 6-2
Singles – Round of 16
(1) Sergi Mico Fellonar (USU) d. Avery Tallakson 6-3, 6-4
Nicolas Recoura d. (8) Eugenio Gonzalez (SDSU) 7-5, 6-7 (6-8), 6-1
(4) Georgio Samaha d. Alec Fritzinger (AF) 7-6 (7-5), 7-5
Daniil Kakhniuk d. Marc Kleber (SDSU) 6-2, 7-5
(2)Arjun Kersten (AF) d. Dario Ciobotaru 6-3. 6-4
Doubles – Round of 16
Mathieu Josserand/Alexander Mandma (SDSU) d. Avery Tallakson/Dario Ciobotaru 8-7 (7-5)
Daniil Kakhniuk/Nicolas Recoura d. Sergi Mico Fellonar/Roman Venger (USU) 8-7 (7-1)
(3)Georgio Samaha/Aram Noroozian d. Paul Janson/Denis Maijorov (SDSU) 8-0