May 27, 2010
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Athens, Ga. – Georgia Tech’s Guillermo Gomez, the No. 4 overall seed in the NCAA Men’s Tennis Singles Championship, captured a hard-fought, straight-set match over Alabama’s Saketh Myneni, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 Thursday and advanced to the third round of the championship at the University of Georgia’s Dan Magill Tennis Complex.
After outlasting Myneni in a first set that remained on serve, Gomez broke his opponent twice in the first three games of the second set, taking a 3-0 lead before holding on to win.
“Myneni played well today, and I knew that he would come in and hit some big shots,” said Gomez, who defeated the Crimson Tide player in last year’s opening round. “The first set was very close and then in the second set he started making some mistakes that he did not make in the first set. I was able to take advantage of those mistakes to get some breaks.”
Gomez will play Stanford sophomore Bradley Klahn, the nation’s 13th-ranked player, in the third round of the 64-player tournament on Friday. Klahn defeated Boris Conkic of Tennessee, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, in their second-round match at 11:30 a.m. Thursday.
Gomez improved to 3-2 all-time in NCAA Championship singles competition, making the farthest advance of his career. After dropping his opening match as a freshman, he made the second round last year with his win over Myneni before being eliminated.
“When you play somebody that many times, the surprised are gone,” said Tech head coach Kenny Thorne. “He has the advantage of winning the other times, but he has to use that. It was very tough on both sides in the first set, and very well-played. In the second set, he didn’t give an inch, and didn’t have some of the unforced errors he had in the first. That puts constant pressure on somebody. Fortunately, he got two breaks, which he needed.”
Gomez improved to 29-7 in singles play this year and 16-6 against ranked opponents. His career record now stands at 85-24.
Earlier in the day in second-round women’s action, Tech’s No. 1, Irina Falconi, defeated Samantha Murray of Northwestern, 6-3, 6-4.
