Austin Smith claims USTA Regional title
Georgia’s Austin Smith wins the USTA/ITA Southeast Regional Chapmionship
For the second year in a row, a member of the Georgia men’s tennis team won the singles crown of the USTA/ITA Southeast Regional Championships as junior Austin Smith claimed the title Monday at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex.
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In an all Bulldog final, No. 1 seeded Smith faced off against teammate and No. 2 seed
. Smith led 4-2 in the first set when Pasha retired, making Smith the 12th Georgia player to win the ITA Regional crown. With the Regional championship, Smith gained an automatic berth in the
National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships
in New York Nov. 6-9. Pasha also has a spot in the tournament, earned by reaching the quarterfinals of the ITA All-American Championships earlier this fall.
Smith was dominant throughout the competition, not losing a set throughout the tournament and allowing the opposition to win three games in a set just once.
In the doubles final, the run by Smith and Eric Diaz came to an end when the pair lost to South Florida’s No. 2 seeded and 12th-ranked team of Roberto Cid and Sasha Gozun, 6-3, 3-6, 1-0(3).
Head coach Manuel Diaz spoke to Georgiadogs.com.
"“It was a phenomenal effort this week by all our guys, especially having two in the finals,” “The level of play by all our guys has gotten better. I was really proud to have an all-Georgia final. It’s such a deep field and it’s hard to accomplish that. Having Austin and Nathan in the final is tremendous for our program this year and shows that we are going to be very competitive. Also, having Eric and Austin in the doubles final with the match going down to a tiebreaker – it was a tremendous tournament for them. We are excited about the future.”"
In addition to the USTA/ITA National Indoor Championships in New York, the Bulldog Scramble will be held in Athens Nov. 7-9 before the Dawgs look forward to spring competition.