Wake Forest Athletics
Bogaerts, Rubin Advance in NCAA Singles Championship
5/20/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
By Andrew Wilson, Wake Forest Athletic Communications (@WakeMTennis)
WACO, Texas - Noah Rubin and Romain Bogaerts of No. 12 Wake Forest men's tennis made history for the program Wednesday as each player won his respective first-round NCAA Singles Championship match at Hurd Tennis Center, marking the first time Wake Forest has had two players reach the Round of 32 in the same season.
Bogaerts advanced to the second round of the tournament for the second year in a row with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over No. 54 Adrien Berkowicz of Texas. Rubin shortly followed Bogaerts by taking a 7-5, 6-4 win over No. 26 Tom Fawcett, a freshman out of Stanford.
The 2015 tournament marks just the third time Wake Forest has entered two players in the singles championship overall. On the previous two occasions in 2008 and 2010, Steven Forman and Cory Parr in 2008 and Forman and Tripper Carleton in 2010 lost first-round matches.
"I think I was pretty prepared for the match today," Bogaerts said. "I started hydrating a couple of days ago, along with stretching and recovery. I was playing pretty well until I went down on a break, and that's when you really have to focus on every point and make sure you win every one. I didn't want to go into a third set, so that was motivation for me to finish it off. It's an honor to make it to the next round of the NCAA singles tournament because I've been working hard these past couple of years. I've been here three times, and it's always fun because you get to play good players. I'm looking forward to the next match."
"I thought (the match) was pretty good overall," Rubin said. "That guy is a pretty big server. The first round is always going to be tough because everyone is good out here. I just tried to keep focused and cool off, and that's what happened."
Bogaerts, the No. 16 player in the country, will take on No. 47 Jeremy Efferding of Texas A&M on Thursday while Rubin, the sixth-ranked player in the ITA singles poll and No. 7-seed in the tournament, will take on No. 50 Chris Diaz of Ohio State. Both matches are set for 10 a.m. ET (9 a.m. CT). Bogaerts is making his second appearance in the Round of 32 in as many years. He fell to Alex Sarkissian of Pepperdine last year in straight sets, 6-1, 6-4.
The NCAA Doubles Championship will also get underway tomorrow with Skander Mansouri and Christian Seraphim, the 13th-ranked duo in the country, taking on Alabama's Korey Lovett and Becker O'Shaughnessey, the 25th-ranked pair in the nation, in the first round at 2 p.m. ET (1 p.m. CT).
Match Results
No. 16 Romain Bogaerts (WF) def. No. 54 Adrien Berkowicz (Texas) 6-2, 6-4
No. 6 Noah Rubin (WF) def. No. 26 Tom Fawcett (Stanford) 7-5, 6-4
Players Mentioned
