Nov. 5, 2010
Flushing, N.Y. – The Georgia Tech doubles team of Kevin King and Juan Spir knocked off the nation’s top-ranked doubles team Friday, eliminating Duke’s Reid Carleton and Henrique Cunha, 8-5, in the quarterfinals of the USTA/ITA National Collegiate Indoor Championships.
King and Spir, who qualified for the nationals by winning the Southeast Regional last week in Gainesville, Fla., captured their third consecutive match against ranked opposition and improved their fall record to 15-3.
“We were able to get an early break after Juan came up with some good returns,” said King after the match. “After that we were able to serve well and keep our first serve percentage up, which allowed us to close out the match.”
They earned the right to face the nation’s fourth-ranked team, Jeff Dadamo and Austin Krajicek of Texas A&M, on Saturday.
“Juan and Kevin competed like champions today,” said Tech head coach Kenny Thorne. “They beat the No. 8 team in the country yesterday and the No. 1 team today. They are sending the right message and have another opportunity tomorrow against the No. 4 team in the semifinals.”
Meanwhile, Tech All-American Guillermo Gomez dropped his second straight match, falling, 6-3, 6-4 to Sanam Singh of Virginia, the nation’s 13th-ranked player, in the singles consolation draw. Gomez had lost his first-round match Thursday.
“Guillermo had a tough match and didn’t do as well as he wanted,” said Thorne. “He fought hard but didn’t get the results. The level of matches here is so high that it comes down to a few points. Those few points didn’t go his way here but he is working hard consistently and it will pay off.”
The event, which includes a 32-player singles draw and a 16-team doubles draw, runs through Sunday at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center’s new Indoor Building. The field includes champions from the 24 Division I USTA/ITA Regional Championships, the USTA/ITA National Small College champion, the eight quarterfinalists of the ITA/D’Novo Men’s All-American Championships and ITA/Riviera All-American Championships, and at-large and wild card selections made by the ITA and USTA.
