Born and Legzdins advance to semifinals in singles flights at Chattanooga

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - The Middle Tennessee men's tennis team had two players advance to the semifinals of their respective singles flights at the UTC/Steve Baras Fall Classic Friday at the Champions Club in Chattanooga.

Sophomore Yannick Born won both of his singles matches in straight sets in Flight 2. He defeated Felipe Wenzel of Jacksonville State 6-2, 6-2 in his first match of the day. In his quarterfinal match, Born won 7-5, 6-1 over Colby Shaw of Lipscomb. He has won his last four singles matches in a row. Freshman Tomas Legzdins also went 2-0 in singles on Friday, moving his fall record to 5-0. Legzdins needed to go three sets in each match in Flight 3. He beat Peter Bleach of The Citadel 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 in his opening match and followed that with a 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 win against Danny Mack of UNC Greensboro.

Marlon Brand went 1-1 in singles Friday. He lost a close match to Austin Ackers of Samford 6-7 (3-7), 6-2, 3-6 but bounced back to beat Felipe Diaz of Jacksonville State 6-4, 6-3. Brand and Born advanced to the semifinals of their doubles draw with an 8-5 win over Chattanooga's Chris Smith and Roberto Vieira.

Those three Blue Raiders are back in action Saturday morning in Chattanooga. Also on Saturday, Christoph Lang and Ettore Zito play their first singles matches in the prequalifying draw at the ITA All-American Championships at the Case Tennis Center in Tulsa, Okla.

RESULTS

DOUBLES

Yannick Born/Marlon Brand (MT) def. Chris Smith/Roberto Vieira (UTC) 8-5

SINGLES

Yannick Born (MT) def. Felipe Wenzel (JSU) 6-2, 6-2

Yannick Born (MT) def. Colby Shaw (LIP) 7-5, 6-1

Austin Ackers (SAM) def. Marlon Brand (MT) 7-6 (7-3), 2-6, 6-3

Marlon Brand (MT) def. Felipe Diaz (JSU) 6-4, 6-3

Tomas Legzdins (MT) def. Peter Bleach (CIT) 3-6, 7-5, 6-4

Tomas Legzdins (MT) def. Danny Mack (UNCG) 4-6, 6-4, 6-2

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