Samaha Wins Again at USTA Clay Court Invite

Friday, November 6

Orlando, Fla.

All Day

Troy University

USTA Collegiate Clay Court Invitational

Photo by: Jeff & Manuela Davis

Samaha Wins Again at USTA Clay Court Invite

11/6/2015 8:34:00 PM | Tennis (W)

By: Matt Mays

ORLANDO, Fla. – The Troy men's and women's tennis teams continued play at the USTA Collegiate Clay Court Invitational on Friday. For the Troy men, Giovani Samaha again advanced in the top men's singles flight. For the Troy women, Nancy Karaky advanced in singles while a doubles team also advanced.

Samaha, a day after beating the tournament's No. 1 seed, grinded out a three-set win over UCF's Christopher Barrus, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4. The Troy senior now moves into Saturday's quarterfinals where he will take on Gabriel Friedrich of South Carolina, the tournament's No. 7 seed. With a win, Samaha will also play in the semifinals on Saturday.

In consolation play for the Trojans, Daniel Bustamante rebounded from a morning loss to Penn State's Matt Berry with a win over Miami's Niclas Genovese, 7-5, 6-3.

In doubles play for the Troy men, Samaha and Moreno nearly grabbed a ranked, but well in a tiebreaker to No. 35 Jeffrey Brown and Alex Gornet from Louisville, 8-7 (2).

For the Troy women, Nancy Karaky advanced to the quarterfinals of the white singles draw with a 7-6, 6-1 win over Alexandra Landert of Florida Gulf Coast.

The Trojans also saw a doubles team advance to the quarterfinals as Jiayuan Xue and Efriliya Herlina won over a duo from Stetson in the garnet doubles draw.

Complete results from all of the Trojans matches are listed below. The Trojans will continue play at the prestigious tournament on Saturday as quarterfinals, semifinals and consolation matches will be played out in all brackets.

USTA Collegiate Clay Court Invitational – Men's

Gold Singles – Round of 16
Giovani Samaha (TROY) def. Christopher Barrus (UCF) 3-6, 6-1, 6-4
Consolation – Round of 16
Matt Barry (PSU) def. Daniel Bustamante (TROY) 6-3, 3-6, 1-0 (2)
Consolation – Other
Daniel Bustamante (TROY) def. Niclas Genovese (MIAMI) 7-6, 6-4

Garnet Singles – Round of 16
(1) Tomas Hanzlik (PSU) def. Pablo Moreno (TROY) 6-1, 7-5
(7) Jose Sangroniz (UCF) def. Andre Baldo (TROY) 7-5, 6-3

Gold Doubles – Quarterfinals
(1) No. 35 Jeffrey Brown/Alex Gornet (UL) def. Pablo Moreno/Giovani Samaha (TROY) 8-7 (2)

Garnet Doubles – Quarterfinals
(3) Sean Donohue/Christopher Morin (UL) def. Andre Baldo/Daniel Bustamante (TROY) 8-6

USTA Collegiate Clay Court Invitational – Women's

Gold Singles – Round of 16
(5) No. 41 Ilinca Stoica (VT) def. Jiayuan Xue (TROY) 6-3, 6-3
Consolation – Round of 32
Caroline Ederhart (UCF) def. Sanae Ohta (TROY) 7-5, 6-2

Garnet Singles – Round of 16
Raluca Mita (VT) def. Efriliya Herlina (TROY) 6-1, 6-2
Consolation – Round of 16
Nicky Pang (FSU) def. Tereza Melicharkova (TROY) 6-2, 6-2

White Singles – Round of 16
Nancy Karaky (TROY) def. Alexandra Landert (FGCU) 7-6, 6-1
(8) Michaela Meszarosova (USA) def. Luisa Ferrauti (TROY) 6-1, 6-3

Gold Doubles – Round of 16
Josie Kuhlman/Brianna N. Morgan (UF) def. Nancy Karaky/Sanae Ohta (TROY) 8-1

Garnet Doubles – Round of 16
(3) Katherine Butler/Sansitha Nandakumar (VT) def. Luisa Ferrauti/Tereza Melicharkova (TROY) 8-2
(4) Efriliya Herlina/Jiayuan Xue (TROY) def. Brittany Hill/Alexe Viaud (STET) 8-2