Oct. 6, 2011
Tulsa, Okla. – Georgia Tech’s Kevin King and Juan Spir, the top-ranked doubles team in the nation, won their first-round match in the main draw of the ITA All-American Championships Thursday, defeating qualifiers Devin McCarthy and Ille Van Engelen of Ohio State, 8-4.
The top-seeded Tech tandem faces a round of 16 match Friday against John Collins and Maros Horny of Maryland at 7:30 p.m.
In main draw singles action Thursday, King downed the nation’s 26th-ranked player, California’s Carlos Cueto, in straight sets, but bowed out in the round of 32 to Brigham Young’s Georgy Batrakov. The senior from Peachtree City, Ga., ranked 85th in the nation, defeated Cueto, 6-3, 7-6 to advance to the second round, where Batrakov, ranked 91st in the nation, battled past King, 6-3, 6-7, 6-4. Spir, a junior from Medellin, Colombia, went up a set against 17th-ranked Costin Paval of Oklahoma before dropping the next two, 3-6, 6-3, 6-3.
The ITA qualifying draw began with 128 players competing for 16 spots in the 64-player main draw. Spir, a junior ranked 34th in the nation, received entry into the main draw by his national ranking. King earned his qay into the main draw by winning three qualifying matches earlier in the week.
