Texas gets first single among last four in 21 years

ATHENS, Ga. -- The highest seed remaining in the draw, second-seeded Marcos Giron of UCLA, moved past California’s Ben McLachlan 6-1, 6-3. Giron has been the only top eight seed in the draw since the first day of singles play and will face the only other seeded player in Sunday’s semifinals.

No.9-16 Søren Hess-Olesen of Texas booked a date with Giron with a strong victory against Mackenzie McDonald. Hess-Oleson, who would later withdraw from doubles play with his teammate Lloyd Glasspool, clinched his spot among the final four by a 6-3, 0-6, 6-2 score line. It is the first time a Longhorn has been in the tournament this late since 1993.

On the other side of the draw two unseeded players advanced to the semifinals as Harvard’s Denis Nguyen and Alex Sarkissian of Pepperdine will face each other with a place in the championship match on the line.

Nguyen continued his run with a 6-2, 6-2 victory against Florent Diep of Florid and Sarkissian topped Robert Cid, who earlier in the week defeated top seed Clay Johnson 6-0, 6-3 in a dominant display on court No. 6.

The doubles draws also cemented their final four teams. No.2 Tennessee pairing of Mikelis Libietis and Hunter Reese moved into the semifinals with a 7-5, 6-3 victory against the California duo of Gregory Bayane and Chase Melton. They will face Hunter Harrington and Dominique Maden of Clemson, who knocked off the No.3 seed of Gonzales Austin and Ryan Lipman of Vanderbilt 6-4, 6-4.

On the other side of the draw Arjun Kadhe and Jakob Sude of Oklahoma State will battle Ohio State’s Peter Kobelt and Kevin Metka. Kadhe and Sude advanced with a 6-4, 6-3 victory against Pepperdine’s Sarkissian and Francis Alcantara. The Buckeye duo advanced after Texas’ withdrawal.

The action moves toward its climax on Sunday as the semifinals of singles and doubles will be played on the Henry Field courts beginning at noon ET.