May 20, 2009

Bowles Advances To The Second Round Of NCAA Singles Tournament
Sophomore Clint Bowles defeated Texas Tech's Raony Carvalho to advance to the second round of the 2009 NCAA Singles Tournament in College Station, Texas.

The 58th-ranked Bowles was on the top of his game to earn a 6-4, 6-3 victory over the 41st-ranked Carvalho. The Tampa, Fla., native started out quickly earning a pair of breaks to open the first set. Carvalho was able to come back a tie the set at 4-4, but Bowles broke to go up 5-4 and then served out the set. There was only one break in the second set and it came at 2-2. Bowles faced several break points after that, but was able to hold on for the straight sets victory.

Bowles will now play Rice's Bruno Rosa who upset No. 8 seed Robert Farah. Bowles defeated the 46th-ranked Rosa 6-4, 6-4 earlier this season in Tallahassee. The match will be played at 2:00 p.m., and the winner will earn All-American status.

Gomez Moves On to NCAA Round of 32
Georgia Tech sophomore Guillermo Gomez picked up a 6-4, 6-2 win over Alabama's Syketh Myneni to advance to the round of 32 Wednesday evening at the NCAA Singles Championships in College Station, Texas.

Eleventh-ranked Gomez improved his record to 29-9 on the season while picking up his 10th victory over a ranked opponent this year. He becomes the first Tech men's player to reach the second round since Jose Muguruza advanced in 2005.

In his first match in over a month, Gomez took on No. 21 Mynenini on court six to begin play an hour and a half behind schedule. Tied at four games a piece in the first set, Gomez rattled off two-straight to take the first set. The Alicante, Spain native would then jump out to a 3-0 lead in the second before holding on for the 6-4, 6-2 victory. 

Weinacker Advances at NCAA Championships
Senior Jay Weinacker advanced to the round of 32 at the NCAA Singles Individual Championships on Wednesday, May 20, in College Station, Texas. Weinacker defeated Marek Michalicka of Wisconsin in straight sets at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center at Texas A&M University. He will face No. 54 Diego Cubas of South Carolina on Thursday in the next round.

Weinacker came back from a 2-1 defecit in the beginning of the first set to keep the lead and win, 7-6, in a tiebreak. He dominated Michalicka in the second set, 6-3.

Weinacker will face Cubas in the round of 32. Cubas, who is ranked No. 54 in the ITA rankings, upset the 4th-ranked player, Denes Lukacs of Baylor in a third set victory. 

Donato Advances in NCAA Singles Tournament
Clay Donato fought back from a 1-6 first set loss to defeat Texas A&M's Austin Krajicek in the first round of the NCAA Championships.

Donato, who is playing in both the singles and doubles portions of the individual NCAA Tournament, won a third-set tiebreaker to advance to the round of 32.

Krajicek, who would have been teammates with Donato if the junior from Canada hadn't transferred to UNC following his freshman season, held serve and failed to break Donato before winning five straight games and the first set. With that momentum, the sophomore from Florida jumped out to a 3-1 lead in the second set. Donato charged back to win three games in a row, though, and eventually closed out a 6-4 second set victory. 

Inglot and Singh Advance in NCAA Singles Tournament
Two members of the Virginia men’s tennis team won their first round matches as the 2009 NCAA Singles Championship began Wednesday at the Mitchell Tennis Center. Dominic Inglot (London, England) and Sanam Singh (Chandigarh, India) advanced to the second round of the tournament, while Michael Shabaz (Fairfax, Va.) fell in three sets in his first round match.

Inglot, a 9-16 seed in the tournament, defeated Bassam Beidas of Pepperdine 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(6) in his opening round match. He will meet Devin Britton of Ole Miss in the second round on Thursday.

Inglot took the opening set by breaking Beidas in the fifth game. He hit six of his 13 aces on the day in his five service games of the first set to take the early lead. In the second set, the players remained on serve until Beidas broke Inglot in the eighth game to take a 5-3 lead before serving out the set in the next game. Neither player could even manage a break point on the other’s serve in the final set to set up a tiebreaker for the match. Inglot went up two mini-breaks at 5-2 and later had three match points at 6-3. Beidas rallied to win the next three points to draw even at 6-6.

Two Blue Devils Fall At NCAA Singles Championships
Duke’s Kiril Dimitrov and Reid Carleton each lost in straight sets in the first round of the NCAA Individual Singles Championships at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center in College Station, Texas.

Dimitrov, ranked No. 56 in the ITA singles rankings, faced the No. 1 player in the country to open the tournament. Tulsa’s Arnua Brugues entered the field of 64 with a 25-match winning streak and would extend it with a straight set win over Dimitrov.

Brugues cruised to a 6-0 win in the first set. He jumped ahead 4-1 in the second set before Dimitrov cut it to 4-2. However, in the end the top seed in the tournament would prevail, winning the final two points for a 6-2 win. Dimitrov ends his college career with 83 career singles wins after leading Duke with a 26-14 record in 2008-09. 

Cory Parr Upset in NCAA Singles First Round by Minnesota's Hadash
Wake Forest senior Cory Parr was upset in the first round of the NCAA Singles Tournament by Minnesota's Ishay Hadash on Thursday morning at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center.

A late addition to the singles draw, Hadash advanced to the round of 32 with a 6-3, 7-6 (1) defeat of the top-16 seeded Parr.

Parr, who is the all-time wins leader in Wake Forest history, was originally slated to face UCLA's Haythem Abid in the opening round. However, Abid was forced to withdraw from the field on Tuesday, opening a spot for the alternate Hadash. 

Re eliminated at NCAA Championships
Virginia Tech junior Yoann Re (Verdun, Quebec, Canada) dropped his opening round match Wednesday morning at the NCAA Division I Men’s Tennis Singles Championships. The event is being held at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center on the campus of Texas A&M University.

Ranked 55th in the latest ITA rankings, Re dropped a 6-3, 6-0, decision to Illinois’ 39th-ranked Dennis Nevolo, the Big Ten Freshman of Year. He concludes the year with a 20-12 singles record, including a 4-1 mark in Atlantic Coast Conference dual matches. Along the way, Re picked up victories over current No. 14 Dominic Inglot (Virginia), No. 25 Justin Kronauge (Ohio State), No. 28 Austen Childs (Louisville), No. 83 Slah Mbarek (TCU), and No. 117 Carlos Alvarez (Clemson).

The All-ACC honoree received an at-large selection to the tournament, joining Albert Larregola (2008) and Arvid Puranen (2006) as recent Hokies to participate in the event. The Tech duo of Nicolas Delgado de Robles and Pedro Graber participated in the 2007 NCAA Doubles Championships.