Ghilea and Papac Advance to Second Round

ATHENS, Ga. – Oklahoma men's tennis sophomores Alex Ghilea and Nick Papac opened the Sooners fall season by both advancing to the second round of play in Division 1 singles at the Southern Intercollegiate Championships, hosted at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex in Athens, Ga., Friday.

Ghilea defeated Forrest Edwards of Charlotte 6-4, 6-1. By virtue of the win, Ghilea will face Austin Smith of host school Georgia in the round of 32 on Saturday at 9:30 a.m. CT.

“Alex played a very solid match from start to finish,” associate head coach Bo Hodge said. “I was impressed with what I saw.”

Papac battled Cole Fiegel of Georgia Tech and took the first set 6-4 before dropping the second, 3-6. Papac rallied to win the third set 7-6 and take the match. Waiting for Papac in the second round is the No. 5 overall seed Ben Wagland of Georgia. That match will be played Saturday at 8:30 a.m. CT.

“Nick fought extremely hard today and I was very proud of his effort,” Hodge said. “He didn't play his best tennis, but he found a way to win and that is the most important thing. These guys love playing in Athens, as we have very fond memories from making the NCAA finals here last May.”

Junior Axel Alvarez begins his tournament play Saturday as well. He will face Christopher Eubanks of Georgia Tech in the second round at 8:30 a.m. CT. Alvarez drew a first round bye by virtue of his No. 1 overall seed.

Ghilea and Papac were also scheduled to pair in the doubles draw of the tournament Friday, but withdrew.

For more tournament information visit: http://bit.ly/WQ9foK

For more on OU Men's Tennis, follow the team on Twitter at @OU_MTennis.