Oct. 22, 2012
Tallahassee, Fla. – Georgia Tech’s Juan Spir and Vikram Hundal finished off an improbable run through the USTA/ITA Southeast Regional Monday, capturing the title with an 8-3 win over North Florida’s Moritz Buerchner and Norbert Nemscek.
With the victory, the Yellow Jacket duo has advanced to the main draw of the USTA/ITA National Indoor Championships Nov. 8-11 at the Billie Jean King Tennis Center in Flushing Meadow, N.Y. Tech has had a representative at the national tournament for the last three years.
Spir captured this title for the second straight year, last year joining with Kevin King to win. This time, the senior from Medellin, Colombia, won the title with a doubles partner he had not played in competition with last year or this fall.
“I’m very proud of our guys representing Georgia Tech so well. Getting another regional title is an incredible accomplishment,” said Tech coach Kenny Thorne. “Juan and Vikram had as dominant a performance throughout the entire tournament as I have ever been a part of. I’m happy for them and for Georgia Tech. Georgia Tech being represented in the national Indoors for four straight years is quite a tribute to our players. This is an elite tournament where very few qualify. It is a great accomplishment, and I’m very proud of them.”
They shut out their first- and second-round opponents, 8-0 each, then proceeded to cruise past the seventh seed (8-4 vs. )Benjamin Lock and Dominic Cotrone of Florida State) in the quarterfinals, the fourth seed (8-3 vs. Mike Alford and Florent Diep of Florida) in the semifinals, and the third seed in the championship match.
“Juan and Vikram performed at an extremely high level all tournament,” said assistant coach Derek Schwandt. “They compliment each other well and have a great feel for the court. It was impressive how they expanded upon leads and were relentless with their focus and energy.”
The victory was the 82nd doubles win in the career of Spir, tying the Georgia Tech school record set by Sergio Aguirre from 1997-2001.
