Tough draws, strong efforts highlight opening round of Nationals

FLORENCE, S.C. - After Monday's rainout, the NJCAA National Tennis Tournament got underway Tuesday at the Dr. Eddie Floyd Tennis Center in Florence, South Carolina.

Joan Mateu Ramis Pascual started off strong in No. 1 singles with a win over Jacksonville's Thompson Thomu after the match was retired. In the Round of 16, he faced fourth-ranked James Edley of Wallace State and dropped a competitive 6-3, 6-3 match.

Jack Semper turned in one of the day's best performances, cruising to a 6-1, 6-0 win over Bevill State's Luke Gardiner at No. 3 singles.

Luca Hoffmann fought through three sets at No. 5 but came up short against Sam Barclift of Bevill State, 3-6, 6-0, 1-6. Ben Orr also battled in a tight match at No. 6 before falling 6-3, 6-3 to Alejandro Rozo of Weatherford.

Santiago Diaz ran into a tough opponent in sixth-ranked Shane Tapera of Barton and dropped his No. 4 singles match 6-1, 6-0. At No. 2 singles, Knox Waterer faced another top-10 player in eighth-ranked Aki Harada of USC Sumter and came up short 6-1, 6-0.

In doubles, Diaz and Orr lost their No. 3 match to Weatherford's Omar Hamzaoui and Christopher Schlossmann, 6-3, 6-2. Hoffmann and Semper fell 6-2, 6-3 to Enzo Loots and Lucas Van Splunteren of Coastal Alabama-South at No. 2. At No. 1 doubles, Ramis Pascual and Waterer made a strong push in the second set but dropped a 6-2, 7-5 decision to Daniel Blinov and Alexi Khamartou of Pratt.

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