Oct. 8, 2010
LEXINGTON, Ky. – University of Kentucky men’s tennis junior No. 8 Eric Quigley, defeated No. 28 John Peers of Baylor 4-6, 7-6 (3), 6-1 to advance to the quarterfinals of the D’Novo/ITA All-American Championships at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center in Tulsa, Okla., on Friday.
Quigley dropped the first set to Peers and was behind late in the second set before putting together a comeback effort to win a second set tiebreaker and force a decisive third set. In the third set, Quigley keep the momentum going, winning the first three games to take a commanding 3-0 lead. The native of Pewee Valley, Ky., then kept the pressure on and defeated Peers 6-1 in the third for the win.
With the win, the UK junior advances to the quarterfinals of the tournament for the second consecutive season, facing No. 13 Sanam Singh of Virginia on Saturday at 10 a.m. CT. Singh, who is the No. 12 seed in the tournament, and Quigley faced off once last season in dual-match play with Quigley defeating Singh 6-3, 6-4. The victory for Quigley helped UK defeat the second-ranked Cavaliers, snapping their 63-match, regular-season win streak.
Last year at the ITA All-American Championships, Quigley made an impressive run through the field to the quarterfinals, posting wins over several ranked players, including Singh. Quigley, then a sophomore at UK, defeated the then-ninth ranked Singh 6-1, 6-3 in the round of 16. Quigley also took down No. 86 Dylan Arnould of Duke (6-1, 6-4), No. 27 Jordan Rux of Baylor (6-3, 7-5) and No. 1 Oleksandr Nedovyesov of Oklahoma State (7-5, 6-1) at the tournament.
If Quigley wins his quarterfinal match over Singh, he will advance to the semifinals, which will be played Saturday. A time for the semifinal match has not been set. Singh advanced to the quarterfinals with a 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 win over No. 30 Jose Hernandez of North Carolina.
Quigley and senior Brad Cox, ranked eighth in doubles, also played in the doubles consolation bracket Friday, falling to No. 13 Remi Boutillier and Rikus de Villiers of Fresno State 9-8 (3).
Complete results can be found at www.tulsahurricane.com.
