Last week, Romain Gales became Clemson’s first ITA Regional champion since 1988.
In Cary, North Carolina, Gales was crowned victorious after battling some of the region’s most talented tennis players. With his triumph, Gales earned a bid to the NCAA Singles Championships, becoming the first Clemson player to do so since Yannick Maden in 2013.
Gales’ victory was spectacular, and surely a sign of what’s to come for Clemson men’s tennis this year. But equally spectacular was the manner in which he achieved gold: by not dropping a set across five matches.
After bulldozing through the first three rounds, Gales served in the quarterfinals against Wake Forest’s No. 100-ranked Andrew Delgado. Italian teammate Edoardo Chérié Lignière joined Gales in quarterfinal berths, also facing a Wake Forest opponent, No. 91-ranked Kacper Szymkowiak.
Currently ranked as the No. 1 team in the nation, Wake Forest split its bid with the Tigers. Gales advanced to the semifinals after handling Delgado 6-3, 6-4, while Lignière fell 6-4, 6-1 to Szymkowiak.
In the semifinals, Gales and Szymkowiak stood on opposite sides of the net. The winner would earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Singles Championships and a chance at ITA Regional glory. Unfazed by the heat of the moment, Gales avenged Lignière, defeating Szymkowiak 6-4, 6-1 and continuing his perfect weekend.
As nerves for the final built, Gales received some lucky — or unlucky — news: his finals opponent, Wake Forest’s No. 92-ranked Luca Pow, had withdrawn from the final.
While ultimately an unfitting end to a breathtaking weekend performance, Pow’s forfeiture deemed Gales Clemson’s sixth ITA Regional champion in program history and the first to do so in 37 years.
In total, eight Clemson players competed in the tournament. In singles, Henrik Bladelius and No. 25-ranked Noa Vukadin made it to the third round.
In doubles play, two Clemson teams made it to the quarterfinals. The Clemson duo of Bladelius and Viktor Markov saw their tournament run come to an end in the quarterfinals, falling 8-7 to North Carolina’s Ian Mayew and Kase Schinnerer after dropping two match points. Meanwhile, teammates Gales and Lignière also met their match against another Tar Heel pair, dropping an 8-6 decision to No. 90-ranked duo Chris Xu and Niels Ratiu.
Head coach Brandon Wagner will surely be happy with his team’s showing in Cary. Gales’ show-stealing performance has the Frenchman preparing for the 2025 NCAA Singles Championships, set for Nov. 18-23 at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Florida.
