Oct. 21, 2011
Athens, Ga. – Georgia Tech won four of five first-round singles matches Friday, while its doubles team of Kevin King and Dusan Miljevic won twice and reached the quarterfinals at the USTA/ITA Southeast Regional Championships at the Dan Magill Tennis Center.
Miljevic, King, Juan Melian Puigventos and Juan Spir all picked up victories in the first round of the main singles draw Friday, advancing to the round of 32 Saturday.
The finalists in singles and the champion in doubles will earn spots in next month’s USTA/ITA National Indoor Championships in Flushing, N.Y.
Spir, ranked 34th in the nation and seeded second in the Southeast Regional, dropped his first set but rallied to defeat Florida State’s Anderson Reed, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4. King, ranked 85th and seeded sixth this weekend easily defeated Dean Tsamas of Florida Gulf Coast, 6-1, 6-2. Puigventos, the seventh seed and ranked 97th nationally, eliminated Stetson’s Didrik Berg, 6-2, 6-1, while Miljevic likewise earned an easy win with a 6-2, 6-2 decision over Georgia’s Garrett Brasseaux.
Freshman Eduardo Segura Mandarino sustained the Yellow Jackets only singles loss of the day with a 6-4, 7-6 defeat to Florida A&M’s Takura Happy.
Round of 32 singles matches begin at 11 a.m. Saturday, with the winners playing round of 16 matches later in the afternoon.
King and Miljevic, seeded second, earned a pair of hard-fought wins after a first-round bye Friday. The Tech duo outlasted Francesc Aulina and Mario Samson of Central Florida, 9-8, then got past South Florida’s Lucas Marin-Salcedo and Sebastian Hagn, 8-6. They’ll face Brasseaux and Will Spencer of Georgia in a quarterfinal match at 9 a.m. Saturday.
Segura Mandarino and Melian Puigventos won their first-round match Friday, 8-6 over Matthjis Verdam and Oliver Webb of Georgia Southern, but were eliminated in the round of 32 by the Jacksonville duo of Fernando Bano Lopze and Richard Casagrande, 8-5.
2011 USTA/ITA Southeast Regional Championships
Friday Results
Singles Round of 64
Dusan Miljevic, Ga. Tech def. Garrett Brasseaux, Georgia, 6-2, 6-2
Takura Happy, FAMU def. Eduardo Segura Mandarino, Ga. Tech, 6-4, 7-6(4)
Kevin King (6), Ga. Tech def. Dean Tsamas, FGCU, 6-1, 6-2
Juan Melian Puigventos (7), Ga. Tech def. Didrik Berg, Stetson, 6-2, 6-1
Juan Spir (2), Ga. Tech def. Anderson Reed, FSU, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4
Doubles Round of 64
Juan Melian Puigventos/Eduardo Segura Mandarino, Ga. Tech def. Matthijs Verdam/Oliver Webb, Ga. Southern, 8-6
Kevin King/Dusan Miljevic (2), Ga. Tech: Bye
Doubles Round of 32
Fernando Bano Lopez/Richard Casagrande, Jacksonville def. Juan Melian Puigventos/Eduardo Segura Mandarino, Ga. Tech, 8-5
Kevin King/Dusan Miljevic (2), Ga. Tech def. Francesc Aulina/Mario Samson, UCF, 9-8
Doubles Round of 16
Kevin King/Dusan Miljevic (2), Ga. Tech def. Lucas Marin-Salcedo/Sebastian Hagn, USF, 8-6
