Oct. 8, 2004
ATLANTA – Zachary Rath advanced to the quarterfinals of the Flight “A” Singles Draw to lead the Yellow Jackets on day one of the Georgia Tech Invitational Friday at the Bill Moore Tennis Center.
The sophomore from Montreal, Quebec defeated Virginia’s Jarrett Chirico, 6-4, 6-0 to advance to Saturday’s quarterfinal match against Tennessee’s Kiril Tcherveniachki, the No. 3 seed in the bracket. Also advancing in singles play were Jose Luis Muguruza and Noah Tyler.
Muguruza, the tournament’s top-seeded singles player, fell in his first round match to Virginia’s Darrin Cohen, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, but came back with a 6-3, 6-1 victory over Georgia Southern’s Lasha Janashia in the first round of Flight “A” Consolations. As the Flight “B” Singles fourth-seeded player, Tyler dropped his first match of the day, 6-2, 2-6, 7-5 to Alabama’s Jordie Kindervater, but returned with a 6-4, 6-3 win against Georgia Perimeter’s Guillemette in the first match of consolations.
Also recording victories on the day for the Yellow Jackets were freshmen George Gvelesiani and Scott Blackmon and junior Marko Rajevac.
Gvelesiani recorded a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 win over ABAC’s Nikola Prpic in the first round of Flight “A” Singles, but dropped a 6-4, 1-6, 7-5 match to the No. 3 seed, Matias Sigal to end his singles run. After recording a 6-3, 4-6, 7-5 match over Georgia Perimeter’s A. Balog, Blackmon fell to Tcherveniachki, 6-1, 7-5. Rajevac defeated Furman’s Chris Gilli, 6-2, 6-3, but failed to advance any further in singles play, dropping a 6-3, 6-3 decision to Georgia State’s Jaime Rodriguez, the No. 5 seed in the Flight “A” singles bracket.
The Georgia Tech doubles’ teams were unable to play their first matches of the tournament due to the late hour and will begin Saturday afternoon after the conclusion of singles play. All singles matches are set to begin at 9 a.m. Saturday morning. For complete results on the 2004 Fall Invitational, visit the Georgia Tech men’s tennis page at www.ramblinwreck.com
