LYNCHBURG, Va. – Ryan Fishback claimed his second ITA Atlantic Regional singles title on Monday with a 7-6 (x), 6-3 win over Virginia Commonwealth's Mathiz Bondaz. On Monday morning, No. 19 Fishback defeated No. 57 Matisse Bobichon (VCU), 7-6 (5), 6-4, to reach the final.
Fishback's singles journey began on Saturday in the gold draw Round of 32, as he defeated Old Dominion's Aryan Saleh, 6-0, 6-0. That set the Geneva, N.Y. native up for a Round of 16 matchup with Virginia's Mans Dahlberg, in which Fishback dropped the first set, but rallied for a 4-6, 6-1, 6-1 win. On Sunday afternoon, it was a battle of Hokies, as he faced freshman teammate Maxime St. Hillaire and claimed a 7-6 (2), 6-4 win.
St. Hillaire had an impressive run himself, picking up straight set wins over Liberty's Rafael Marques da Silva (7-5, 6-3) and ODU's Yanis Moundir (7-5, 6-2) to reach the quarterfinals. In the doubles field, St. Hillaire and Matt Harper reached the gold draw quarterfinals before falling, 8-6, to ODU's Cadonau/Rolland De Ravel.
Two Hokies – Manuel Goncalves and Alberto Orso – played themselves out of the silver draw into the gold draw Round of 32. Orso had two convincing wins over Villanova's Tighe Brunetti (6-3, 6-2) and Liberty's Matija Samardzic (6-4, 6-0) before gutting out an impressive 6 (4)-7, 7-6 (4), 6-2 win over Richmond's Daniel Kliebhan to reach the gold draw.
In doubles, freshmen Ilyas Fahim and Diego Cuerto de Romana started the event strong on Wednesday with an 8-1 win over Khromchenko/Vestal of Villanova. Fishback and Orso's title defnese lasted through the Round of 16 with a win over Liberty's Marques da Silva/Longwe-Smit, while Goncalves and Hugo Maia picked up an 8-1 win over Delaware's Saadi/Talimaa in the Round of 32 before falling in the second round of the gold draw, as well.
