Oct. 8, 2011
Tulsa, Okla. – Georgia Tech’s Kevin King and Juan Spir, the top-ranked doubles team in the nation, reached the championship match of the ITA All-American Championships Saturday, defeating 26th-ranked Andreas Mies and Alex Stamchev of Auburn, 6-2, 3-6, 6-4, in the semifinal round.
The top-seeded Tech tandem, which reached the semifinals of last year’s NCAA Championship and USTA/ITA National Indoor Championship, can pocket their first national championship with a victory Sunday over Chase Buchanan and Blaz Rola of Ohio State, the nation’s 3rd-ranked team. They advanced Saturday by defeating Georgia’s Sadio Doumbia and Ignacio Tabaoda and are in the finals for the second straight year.
“We got up pretty quickly on those guys, we were playing very well. We got two breaks and won 6-2,” said King. “The Auburn guys made some adjustments in the second set, and they got up on us 4-2 in the third, but we played some tough points well and were able to close it out.”
The Jackets held serve in the third set to make it 4-3, then got the important service break to tie the set 4-4. After holding again to take the lead 5-4, King and Spir got up 40-0 in the deciding game, and King put away a volley to close out the victory.
“We kept reminding ourselves that we were going to get the break back, and we needed to stay aggressive,” said Spir. “In the last game, Kevin and I both hit winners down the line to give us the 40-love lead, and he put it away with the volley. We really tried to go after it.”
The semifinals and finals are three-set matches, as opposed to collegiate doubles sets (first to eight games wins) that were played in the first three rounds. Friday, they eliminated John Collins and Maros Horny of Maryland, the nation’s 9th-rated doubles team, 8-3, then dispatched qualifiers Tsvetan Mihov and Peerakit Siributwong of Oklahoma, 8-5. They opened the main draw Thursday with an 8-4 win over Ohio State’s Devin McCarthy and Ille Van Engelen.
“They made the finals of this tournament last year, so we know they’re a great team, and we’re looking forward to it,” said King.
Sunday’s match begins at 11 a.m. Eastern time.
