Southeastern University men’s tennis earned five ITA Cup bids after advancing two doubles teams to an all-Southeastern final at the ITA Florida Regional Championships in West Palm Beach, Fla. The second-seeded team of Pedro De La Riva and Gonzalo Fernandez won the title by defeating top-seeded teammates Piero Fernandez and Alejandro Bancalari 7-6 (8-6), 6-3.
The championship gave De La Riva and Gonzalo Fernandez ITA Cup bids as doubles champions. Piero Fernandez and Bancalari also earned bids as doubles finalists, giving Southeastern four doubles qualifiers. Piero Fernandez added a fifth bid by reaching the singles semifinals.
Southeastern places two teams in doubles final
De La Riva and Gonzalo Fernandez opened the doubles draw with a walkover before defeating Cruz Yanel and Max Kiramyr of the College of Coastal Georgia 8-1. They then beat teammates Daniel Garcia Suarez and Aristeidis Lafazanos 8-2 in the quarterfinals and third-seeded Kacper Laskowski and Francisco Duran of New College of Florida 8-3 in the semifinals.
Piero Fernandez and Bancalari also received an opening-round walkover. They defeated St. Thomas’ Jan Gewaltig and William Rosencrantz 8-2, followed by an 8-5 quarterfinal win over St. Thomas’ Lucas Martinez and Ivan Menendez Soto. The Southeastern pair then defeated Keiser’s David Lopez and Alexander Orlov 8-4 in the semifinals.
Garcia Suarez and Lafazanos won two doubles matches before their quarterfinal loss to De La Riva and Gonzalo Fernandez. The pair defeated Keiser’s Teano Balducci and Viktor Kana 8-2 and St. Thomas’ Jeremy Diaz and Alexander Sagarra 8-1.
Piero Fernandez reaches singles semifinals
Piero Fernandez advanced to the singles semifinals after receiving an opening-round walkover and defeating Ave Maria’s Joao Almeida 6-2, 6-2. He rallied past College of Coastal Georgia’s Geronimo Dolci 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 before beating Keiser’s Alexander Orlov 7-5, 6-4 in the quarterfinals.
Fernandez won the first-set tiebreaker against Keiser’s Oliver King in the semifinals, but King rallied to win 6-7 (2-7), 6-2, 6-1. Fernandez’s semifinal finish earned him an ITA Cup bid in singles.
Several other Southeastern players also advanced in the singles draw. Garcia Suarez reached the quarterfinals before losing to Keiser’s David Lopez 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, while De La Riva defeated New College of Florida’s Kacper Laskowski 6-0, 6-3 before losing to Keiser’s Felipe Rivadeneira 3-6, 7-6 (7-2), 6-3.
Gonzalo Fernandez defeated St. Thomas’ Lucas Martinez 6-1, 7-5 before losing to Lopez. Lafazanos beat SCAD’s Yu Dian Dong 6-3, 6-4 before losing to Lopez, and Bancalari advanced by walkover before falling to St. Thomas’ Aymen Jouhari 6-4, 6-4.
Next events for Southeastern University
The ITA Cup is scheduled to take place at the Rome Tennis Center in Rome, Ga., with a date not provided in the source. Before the trip to Rome, Southeastern is scheduled to compete in a round-robin-style event at the Embry-Riddle Invite in Daytona Beach, Fla., on Oct. 2, 2026.
The regional tournament gave Southeastern four doubles qualifiers and one singles qualifier for the ITA Cup. De La Riva, Gonzalo Fernandez, Piero Fernandez and Bancalari earned the doubles bids, while Piero Fernandez also qualified through his singles semifinal finish.
FSB Take
Southeastern University’s strongest verified result from the regional tournament was its doubles depth. The program placed two teams in the final, sent a third team to the quarterfinals and earned four doubles bids along with Piero Fernandez’s singles bid.
Source: Original report