Oct. 17, 2012
THE FLATS – All-American Juan Spir and the rest of the Georgia Tech men’s tennis team is set to compete in the USTA/ITA Southeast Regional, beginning Thursday in Tallahassee, Fla.
Qualifying rounds in singles and doubles will be played Thursday, with the main draws in both beginning Friday. The tournament runs through Monday, when championship matches will be played. The champions of the singles and doubles draws at the regional championships will advance to the USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships Nov. 8-11 at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing, N.Y.
Spir, a senior from Medellin, Colombia, who won one match before being eliminated in the ITA All-American Championship two weeks ago, is ranked 30th nationally among singles players and seeded No. 2 in the main draw of singles this weekend. He will open play Friday at 1 p.m. against a survivor from the qualifying draw.
Juan Melian, Tech’s other senior from Las Palmas, Spain, faces seeded player Jordi Vives of Florida Gulf Coast in his first-round match at 9 a.m. Friday. Other first-round matches for Tech include freshman Nathan Rakitt of Marietta, Ga., against North Florida’s Moritz Buercher, and sophomore Vikram Hundal of Alpharetta, Ga., against South Florida’s Ravi Patel.
Freshmen Garrett Gordon of Marietta, Ga., and Anish Sharma of Alpharetta, Ga., begin competition Thursday in the qualifying draw of singles. Sharma faces North Florida’s Bernardo Craveiro in his first match at 8:30 a.m., while Gordon has a first-round bye before taking on Marco Osorio of Georgia Southern at 11:30 a.m.
Spir and Hundal are paired in doubles for the Jackets and have drawn the top seed, getting a first-round bye. They will take on Florida A&M’s Chidi Gabriel and Admire Mushonga in a round of 32 match Friday. Melian and Rakitt take on Alex Toliver and Alexander Pena of Kentucky in a qualifying match Thursday. Gordon and Sharma also have a first-round bye before taking on Jordan Kelly-Houston and Anderson Reed of Florida State in the round of 32.
