Auburn men’s tennis concluded a strong weekend of competition Sunday, with wins at both the Crimson Tide Fall Challenge in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and the CCB Collegiate Invitational in Birmingham, Alabama. The Tigers went undefeated across all three hidden dual matches in Tuscaloosa, while sophomore Joey Phillips finished third in his singles flight in Birmingham.
Auburn men’s tennis opened play Friday in Tuscaloosa against Columbia, which had a strong start, jumping ahead early by sweeping both doubles matches. The No. 20-ranked duo, Freddy Blaydes and Billy Blaydes, fell 6-3 to Thanaphat Boosarawongse and Aditya Govila, while Hamza Nasridinov and Nicholas Heng fell short in their match 6-1 against Abhishek Thorat and Andrew Ena. Trailing after doubles, the Tigers needed a singles surge ahead, and they delivered.
Auburn claimed three of four completed singles matches to secure the overall tiebreaker. Billy Blaydes outlasted Boosarawongse in a three-set battle, and Nasridinov rolled past Thorat in straight sets. Freddy Blaydes sealed the comeback with a gritty 3-6, 7-5, 7-5 win over Ena. Phillips added a victory over Kennesaw State’s Dominic Ducariu in extra action to end an impressive, hard-fought opening day.
The Tigers kept their momentum going with another victory on Saturday with another tiebreak win, this time against Louisville. Auburn dropped the doubles point after Walid Ahouda and Hamza El Amine defeated the Blaydes brothers. Auburn was then challenged when Ahouda rallied past Billy Blaydes in singles; however, they responded with clutch performances to secure the overall victory.
The Tigers closed out the weekend with a 3-1 win over Florida State on Sunday. After the Seminoles took the doubles point, Auburn responded with singles wins from both Blaydes brothers and Nasridinov.
“Overall, a weekend of ups and downs,” Auburn assistant coach Trey Morris said about Phillips’ play in Birmingham. “Holistically, probably not to our standard, but there were still some bright spots with Joey finishing third in the entire event. Joey is constantly looking to better himself and understands that he needs to continue to polish his game. This weekend really highlighted that with some of the adjustments he made, and I’m excited to see how he takes that feedback moving forward.”
Competing at the Country Club of Birmingham, Joey Phillips gained two wins in four matches to secure a strong finish. He opened play with a 7-5, 6-1 victory over Kennesaw State’s Dominic Ducariu, advancing to the semifinals of his draw, where he fell to South Alabama’s Juan Accossatto. Phillips rebounded in the consolation match, earning a straight-set win over UAB’s Conor Flynn to claim third place.
Next up, Auburn will compete at the ITA South Sectional Championships, set for November 6th-9th at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex in Athens, Georgia. Here, the players will look to earn bids to the NCAA singles and doubles championships.
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Sarah is a sophomore majoring in public relations. She started with The Plainsman in the spring of 2025.
