Rebels’ Hansson, Hartono reach tournament’s round of 16

Published 12:00 pm Friday, May 27, 2016

TULSA, Okla. — The All-American wall inside the Palmer/Salloum Tennis Center will need updating after Ole Miss men’s tennis sophomore Gustav Hansson advanced to the round of 16 at the NCAA Singles Championships Thursday to become the 29th All-American in the history of the program.

Hansson, ranked No. 39 in the nation, defeated Stanford sophomore and 2015 Pac-12 Freshman of the Year Tom Fawcett 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 to reach the round of 16 in his first NCAA singles appearance. He will face No. 1 ranked and top-seeded Mikael Torpegaard of Ohio State in the third round today.

An early break by Hansson allowed him to take a 2-0 lead in the first set against Fawcett, who is ranked No. 15. Fawcett broke right back, but Hansson ended up breaking again for a 4-2 lead and held to take the first set for the second day in a row. Hansson held a 2-0 lead in the second as well, but Fawcett broke back and then broke again at 3-2 and went on to win it to force the winner-take-all set.

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With All-American honors on the line in addition to the win, Hansson won a deciding point in the eighth game to take a 5-3 lead. Fawcett held his serve and then Hansson served it out for the win.

Another All-American

Ole Miss women’s tennis has back-to-back All-Americans, as sophomore Arianne Hartono rallied to a win a three-setter against Texas A&M’s Saska Gavrilovska Thursday to reach the round of 16 at the NCAA Singles Championship and become the 12th All-American in program history.

Hartono rallied to beat Gavrilovska 3-6, 7-6(5), 6-1 at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center. She will face No. 2 seed Danielle Collins of Virginia in the third round today.

Gavrilovska won a no-ad point to break Hartono and take a 4-2 lead in the opening set. Both players held serve for the remainder of the frame as Gavrilovska, ranked No. 24 in the nation, went on to win 6-3.