Results of the first day of the MLK Invitational tournament
THE PLANS – Georgia Tech men’s tennis topped the number 20 South Carolina Gamecocks in doubles, scoring three victories to start the 2021 campaign to highlight the first day of the Invitational MLK Tournament on Saturday afternoon at the Ken Byers Tennis Complex.
Tech’s No. 31 Pairing of Pablo Schelcher / Marcus McDaniel won a dominant 7-6 (4) doubles victory for the Yellow Jackets over No. 69 of the Gamecock Raphael Lambling / Philip Jordan.
Freshmen in red t-shirts Andres Martin AND Keshav Chopra, No. 41 in the doubles ranking in the country, also won a 7-6 (1) victory at the start of the season over No. 44 Daniel Rodrigues / Connor Thomson. Cole Gromley / Brandon McKinney added to Tech’s total wins with a 6-1 win over Brown / Pelletier in court four.
McKinney took Georgia Tech’s only singles win of the night, beating Jake Beasley 6-1, 7-5.
Meanwhile, McDaniel lost a close fight with Thomson, the No. 118 individual player in the ranking. McDaniel won the first set with a 6-3 display, but lost the second 7-6 (5) before narrowly losing the final set 7-6 (4).
The game continues on Sunday, when the Yellow Jackets face Georgia Southern, starting no earlier than 2 pm EST.
SATURDAY RESULTS
Songs
No. 32 Daniel Rodrigues (South Carolina) def. No. 59 Andres Martin (Georgia Tech) 6-4, 7-6 (2)
No. 118 Connor Thomson (South Carolina) def. Marcus McDaniel (Georgia Tech) 3-6, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (4)
No. 81 Raphael Lambling (South Carolina) def. Keshav Chopra (Georgia Tech) 6-2, 7-6 (2)
Toby Samuel (South Carolina) def. Pablo Schelcher (Georgia Tech) 7-5, 7-6 (5)
Phillip Jordan (South Carolina) def. Brandon Freestone (Georgia Tech) 6-3, 7-6 (9)
Brandon McKinney (Georgia Tech) def. Jake Beasley (South Carolina) 6-1, 7-5
Thomas Brown (South Carolina) def. Chen Dong (Georgia Tech) 6-2, 6-4
Doubles
No. 31 Pablo Schelcher / Marcus McDaniel (Georgia Tech) def. No. 69 Raphael Lambling / Phillip Jordan (South Carolina) 7-6 (4)
No. 41 Andres Martin / Keshav Chopra (Georgia Tech) def. No. 44 Daniel Rodrigues / Connor Thomson (South Carolina) 7-6 (1)
Jake Beasley / Toby Samuel (South Carolina) def. Brandon Freestone / Zummy Bauer (Georgia Tech) 6-2
Cole Gromley / Brandon McKinney (Georgia Tech) def. Thomas Brown / Beau Pelletier (South Carolina) 6-1
MLK Invitational Timeline
Sunday, January 17
9 am – No. 10 Georgia vs. No. 20 South Carolina
2 pm – Georgia Tech vs. Georgia Southern
Monday, January 18
9 am – No. 20 South Carolina vs. Georgia Southern
2 pm – Georgia Tech vs. No. 10 Georgia
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