Tahirovic Advances to Quarterfinals at ITA Conference Masters, Adds Doubles Win with McDonald

DRAWS/RESULTS

ROME, Ga. – It was a banner day for Bucknell's Amar Tahirovic, who won two singles matches before teaming with Brendan McDonald for a doubles win Thursday on the opening day of the ITA Conference Masters Championships. Tahirovic is into the quarterfinals of the singles draw, and he is now just one victory away from an automatic bid to the NCAA Championships.

Tahirovic took both of his singles matches in straight sets to advance to the quarterfinals, where No. 1 seed and two-time All-American Sebastian Dominko of Notre Dame awaits him on Friday morning. All four singles semifinalists and the top three doubles teams qualify for the NCAAs.

Tahirovic's opening match came against former Big South Conference Player of the Year Eduardo Dias of Gardner Webb, whose strong 6.9 UTR rating was two points higher than Tahirovic's. Nevertheless, the Bison junior pulled out a 7-5, 6-4 win.

Now 11-1 in singles this fall, Tahirovic won by the same match score against UNC Wilmington's Joseph Wayand, who was an All-American at North Carolina State before transferring to UNCW this season.

Later in the day, Tahirovic and McDonald took down Weber State's Tristan Sarap and William Zulch 6-2, 6-3. The Bison duo will also be tasked with facing the No. 1 seed in the next round. Mississippi State's Petar Jovanovic and Benito Sanchez Martinez, who reached the NCAA quarterfinals last season, received a first-round bye.

Tahirovic's singles match is scheduled for 9 a.m. on Friday, and then he will be back on the doubles courts with McDonald at 12:30 p.m.

The ITA Conference Masters features brackets of 32 in both singles and doubles, with each Division I conference represented. Tahirovic in singles and the Tahirovic/McDonald tandem in doubles both advanced through a Patriot League-wide qualifier at West Point two weeks ago.

Tahirovic Advances to Quarterfinals at ITA Conference Masters, Adds Doubles Win with McDonald

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Players Mentioned

Brendan McDonald

Amar Tahirovic