The seventh-ranked Georgia men’s tennis team defeated Winthrop 4-0 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament Friday afternoon at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex.

The Bulldogs (22-4) will face No. 27 Florida State Saturday at 3 p.m. for a berth in the NCAA round of 16 to be held May 14 in Waco, Texas.

Freshman Peter Bertran furnished his first career clincher for Georgia, which will look to advance to the round of 16 for the 12th consecutive year on Saturday.

“I thought we did a tremendous job at No. 2 and 3 doubles,” said head coach Manuel Diaz. “Those guys had not played together at No. 2 since January, and I think it was the first match together for Paul (Oosterbaan) and Eric (Diaz). I was happy with the chemistry for both of those teams, and I thought the No. 1 team played well too. In singles we got off to a little bit slower start. We haven’t played a match in three weeks, so everyone was looking for their rhythm and we weren’t making the best decisions to start with, but we found three guys who took care of business and brought it home.”

Georgia won doubles matches at Nos. 2 and 3 to take the 1-0 lead. At No. 2, Wayne Montgomery and Nathan Pasha defeated Steven Patrick and Tremayne Mitchell 8-2, then Eric Diaz and Oosterbaan clinched the point with an 8-3 victory over Michael Chen and Joshua Ryan at No. 3.

For Pasha, it was his 100th career doubles win, and he is now tied for eighth on the school’s career singles and doubles wins list. He and Diaz were scheduled to participate in UGA’s spring commencement at Sanford Stadium later Friday night.

Pasha was first off the court in singles with a 6-1, 6-0 victory over Patrick at No. 3, then Nick Wood topped Ruben Franzanti 6-3, 6-1 at No. 5 before Bertran clinched with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Michael Chen at No. 6.

The Bulldogs also won the first sets at Nos. 1, 2 and 4. UGA is now 99-32 all-time in the NCAA Tournament.

Saturday’s match was played under the traditional format, which includes deuce-ad scoring. Georgia’s previous 25 matches this season were played under the ITA shortened format, which includes no-ad scoring.

Saturday’s schedule features the Duke women vs. Purdue at 9 a.m., followed by the Georgia women vs. Charleston Southern at noon, then the Georgia men at 3 p.m. against FSU.

Said Manuel Diaz: “We saw Florida State play today. They are familiar with us and we know them. It is certainly going to be a tremendous match. We hope to have a great crowd, and I think it will be a great atmosphere for tennis. It should be a wonderful day.”