Jamie Connel became a singles co-champion at the ITA Southeast Regional Championships on Saturday afternoon. Florida State has already secured two automatic NCAA Singles Championship qualifiers with Corey Craig and Connel.
Connel entered the tournament as the No. 7 seeded player and began his run with two straight-set victories in the first two rounds. The third round match began with a dropped first set before battling back and claiming the second set tiebreaker en route to a dominant 6-2 third set.
Connel was then tasked with Georgia’s Thomas Paulsell, the No. 14 player in the nation at home. The All-ACC honoree blitzed through the first set 6-2 before just falling short in a second-set tiebreaker. He responded with a resounding 6-1 third set to move to the semifinals and face No. 43 Martin Katz of Miami. Connel punched his ticket to the 2024 NCAA Men’s Tennis Singles and Doubles Championships after only dropping five total games en route to the final. The final was abandoned as the two finalists shared the championship.
Alex Bulte provided one of the bigger upsets of the tournament over Miami’s Antonio Prat in three sets, knocking off the No. 58 player in the nation. Azariah Rusher also earned a three-set victory in the first round of singles play.
In the doubles tournament, Youcef Rihane and Bulte came up huge in the set tiebreaker to win 7-4, while Joshua Dous-Karpenschif and Erik Schiessl handled their business in the first round of the tournament with an 8-4 set win. Both pairings dropped in the round of 16.
Florida State will hit the road next weekend and travel to Gainesville for the annual Bedford Cup beginning on Friday.
ITA Men’s Southeast Regional Championships – Men’s Singles Main Draw – Round of 64Azariah Rusher (FSU) def. Ettore Danesi (USF) 6-4, 4-6, 7-5#82 Jamie Connel (FSU) def. Stepan Mruzek (USF) 6-2, 6-3Nemanja Stefanovic (MERC) def. Jan Sebesta (FSU) 6-4, 6-2Alex Bulte (FSU) def. #58 Antonio Prat (MIAMI) 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-2Eder Fernandez Blanco (STET) def. #88 Youcef Rihane 7-5, 6-4, 6-3Aaron Williams (GEOSOU) def. Erik Schiessl 7-6 (5), 6-7 (7), 7-5Edward Tymes (GAST) def. Joshua Dous-Karpenschif 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-1
ITA Men’s Southeast Regional Championships – Men’s Singles Main Draw – Round of 32#14 Thomas Paulsell (UGA) def. Azariah Rusher (FSU) 7-5, 6-2#82 Jamie Connel (FSU) def. Freddy Blaydes (UGA) 7-6 (5), 6-4Richard Biagiotti (GT) def. Alex Bulte (FSU) 6-1, 6-4
ITA Men’s Southeast Regional Championships – Men’s Singles Main Draw – Round of 16#82 Jamie Connel (FSU) def. Dimitris Paliouras (GEOSOU) 3-6, 7-6 (3), 6-2
ITA Men’s Southeast Regional Championships – Men’s Singles Main Draw – Quarterfinals#82 Jamie Connel (FSU) def. #14 Thomas Paulsell (UGA) 6-2, 6-7 (5), 6-1
ITA Men’s Southeast Regional Championships – Men’s Singles Main Draw – Semifinals#82 Jamie Connel (FSU) def. #43 Martin Katz (MIAMI) 6-3, 6-2
ITA Men’s Southeast Regional Championships – Men’s Singles Main Draw – Final#82 Jamie Connel (FSU) vs. #64 Miguel Perez Pena (UGA) (ABN)
ITA Men’s Southeast Regional Championships – Men’s Doubles Main Draw – Round of 64Lucca Pignaton/John Bernard (FAU) def. Corey Craig/Elias Sumann (FSU) 8-3
ITA Men’s Southeast Regional Championships – Men’s Doubles Main Draw – Round of 32Jiri Jenicek/Mark Havlicek (FAU) def. Azariah Rusher/Justin Lyons (FSU) 8-6#47 Joshua Dous-Karpenschif/Erik Schiessl (FSU) def. Luca Hotze/Simeon Terziev (UCF) 8-4#41 Youcef Rihane/Alex Bulte (FSU) def. Juan Jose Rodriguez Garceran/Marc Saura (STET) 8-7 (4)Adriano Dzhenev/Nicolas Oliveira (UCF) def. #78 Jamie Connel/Jan Sebesta (FSU) 8-6
ITA Men’s Southeast Regional Championships – Men’s Doubles Main Draw – Round of 16Jeremy Jin/Kevin Edengren (FLA) def. #47 Joshua Dous-Karpenschif/Erik Schiessl (FSU) 8-6Christophe Clement/Krish Arora (GT) def. #41 Youcef Rihane/Alex Bulte (FSU) 8-5
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: FSU’s Jaime Connel wins ITA Southeast Regional on Saturday
