July 24, 2009

LEXINGTON Ky. – Returning University of Kentucky men’s tennis sophomore Eric Quigley paired up with former Wildcat teammate Bruno Agostinelli to dispatch the No. 2 team of Brendan Evans and Ryan Sweeting 6-4, 6-3 in a men’s doubles quarterfinal match of the Fifth Third Bank Tennis Championships held at the Boone Tennis Complex Thursday evening.

Quigley and Agostinelli used timely service breaks late in both sets to secure the victory. The pair faces Kevin Anderson of South Africa and American Ryler Deheart in a semifinal match slated for 7:00 p.m. ET Friday night at Boone. Anderson and Deheart are partnering for the first time this year but have already knocked off the fourth-seeded team in the draw.

On Thursday night, the Wildcat duo broke Evans and Sweeting in the first game only to give up the break in game two. The teams then traded games while battling to a 4-4 tie. The hometown team broke their opponents again in game nine to take a 5-4 advantage; then closed out the first set at 6-4 by holding serve.

In the second set, both teams held serve through six games for a 3-3 deadlock. In the seventh game, Quigley and Agostinelli earned a service break to go up 4-3. They held serve in the next game to increase their lead to 5-3 before breaking Evans and Sweeting again to clinch the match.

Friday’s match marks the first doubles semifinal for Quigley after reaching two quarterfinals earlier this summer, including one with Agostinelli.

Earlier in the evening, Agostinelli’s run in singles play was halted by Tim Smyczek 6-2, 6-2 in the round of 16. Smyczek is ranked No. 379 in the world in the latest Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) rankings and will face fellow American Alex Kuznetsov in the quarterfinals.

Stay tuned to UKathletics.com for all of the latest Kentucky men’s tennis news.