
Men’s tennis sophomore Francisco Dias was just one of 16 performers to qualify for main draw singles action at the ITA/D’Novo All-American Men’s Tennis Championships, but fell in three sets to No. 26 Gonzales Austin of Vanderbilt in Round 1 Thursday.
Dias, who is ranked No. 89 in the country by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association, dropped his first set 6-2, but battled back to take a 7-5 second-set victory. Ultimately, however, Dias was overpowered by Austin in the third set, falling 6-1. He’ll next compete in the main draw singles consolation bracket. Its winner will earn an automatic berth in the USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships in November.
The nine-day tournament is the largest field of any collegiate tennis competition, featuring more than 300 competitors, and has three rounds of competition: pre-qualifying, qualifying and main draw. Dias advanced through each round to Thursday’s main draw competition, including upsetting No. 58 Chris Simpson of LSU Wednesday. In the final round of qualifying competition, Dias defeated Simpson in straight sets to advance to main draw competition.