ORLANDO, Fla.—Andre Ilagan continues to make history, becoming the first Rainbow Warrior tennis player to win a match in the NCAA Men’s Singles Championship with a straight-set sweep over Michigan’s Andrew Maloney, 6-3, 6-3. Ilagan advances to the second round and will face the winner of the Siem Woldeab (Texas) vs. Garrett Johns (Duke) match at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Fla. on Tuesday.
Ilagan broke Maloney twice early in the first set to take a 4-1 lead. But Maloney and Ilagan then traded breaks back-and-forth, but Ilagan’s third break extended his lead to 5-2 lead and was serving for the set when Maloney picked up his second break of the set to close to 5-3. But Ilagan broke Maloney for the fourth time to take Set 1, 6-3.
Set 2 was on serve until Ilagan was able to break Maloney off a long rally which gave Ilagan a 4-2 lead. But Michigan’s Maloney broke right back to go back on serve trailing 4-3. Maloney had a 40-15 lead to tie the set at 4-4, but instead Ilagan fought his way back, staving off two wet points to break Malone for the second straight time to take a 5-3 lead. Ilagan served out the match for the win.
With the win, Ilagan improves to 17-3 this season and extended his win-streak to 16-straight matches.
The first round match was moved into one of the USTA National Campus’ indoor courts after heavy rains and a red alert prevented the afternoon matches to be played outside.
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