Oct. 5, 2009
TULSA, Okla. –
Kentucky junior Brad Cox and sophomore Eric Quigley posted straight-set victories on the first day of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) All-American Championships’ qualifying singles tourney at the University of Tulsa’s Case Tennis Center Monday.
Cox defeated Javier Pulgar of Louisiana-Lafayette in his first-round match. The UK veteran won the first set by a score of 7-5. Cox continued to roll in the second set, dispatching Pulgar 6-3 for the victory. Cox will face the winner of the match between No. 60 Shuhei Uzawa of Ohio State and Juan Gomez of San Diego State. Uzawa is the tourney’s 13th seed.
Currently at No. 70 in the fall ITA singles rankings, Quigley toppled Oregon’s Marcos Verdasco in straight sets. The Wildcat used a service break to take the first set 6-4 before finishing the match in the second at 6-3. Quigley faces No. 86 Dylan Arnould of Duke in the second round Tuesday. The Cats are familiar with Arnould who was a three-set winner over UK’s Alex Musialek at Virginia’s fall tournament last week.
Musialek fought through a grueling, three-set battle in the first round against No. 50 Houston Barrick of Virginia. Third-seeded Barrick edged the Wildcat in a first set tiebreaker 7-6(3). The UK sophomore turned the tables on the Cavalier in the second with a 7-6(3) set win of his own. Fittingly, a tiebreaker also decided the final set as Barrick edged Musialek by two points in the breaker to take the match at 7-6(5)
After a three-match win streak over the weekend, Alberto Gonzalez faced No. 65 Philip Stephens of Tulsa in a tight, first-round match on the Golden Hurricane’s home court. Stephens edged the UK junior 7-6 in the first set, but Gonzalez won by the same score in the second to force a deciding set. One service break proved to be the difference in the match as Stephens stopped Gonzalez’ streak at 6-4 in the third to advance.
The Championships tourney lasts nine days consisting of three inter-linked singles draws and two dependent doubles draws. The pre-qualifying singles tournament concluded Sunday with UK’s Gonzalez advancing three rounds to make one of the 16 slots that moved on to the qualifying draw of 128 that began Monday. The final 16 of the singles qualifying draw advance to play in the concluding 64-man main draw.
Gonzalez and senior Alex Lambropoulos, opened play in the pre-qualifying tournament last weekend.
After a first-round bye, Gonzalez rolled over San Diego State’s Jose Sierra Short 6-2, 6-2 in the second round Saturday. He followed up that win on Sunday by dominating Joe Wood of New Mexico 6-2, 6-0. In the fourth round, Gonzalez knocked off Oklahoma’s Blake Boswell 5-7, 7-5, 10-7 to advance to the qualifying tournament.
Lambropoulos drew eleventh-seeded Vasko Mladenov of Texas in the second round after a first-round bye. The Wildcat veteran battled to a third-set superbreaker but fell just short of the upset as Mladenov edged Lambropoulos 6-2, 3-6, 10-8.
On the doubles side, Gonzalez and Musialek will pair up in the 64-team qualifying tournament early this week. The Wildcat duo would have to win three matches to advance to the doubles main draw. The No. 24 doubles tandem of Cox and Quigley gained automatic entry into the 32-team doubles main draw that begins Thursday.
Stay tuned all week to UKathletics.com for recaps of all Wildcat performances at the ITA All-American Championships.
October 3-5, 2009
Tulsa, Okla. (Case Tennis Center)
ITA All-American Championships
Qualifying Singles – First Round
#70 Eric Quigley (UK) def. Marcos Verdasco (UOR) 6-4, 6-3
Brad Cox (UK) def. Javier Pulgar (ULL) 7-5, 6-3
#50 Houston Barrick (UVA) def. Alex Musialek (UK) 7-6(3), 6-7(3), 7-6(5)
#65 Philip Stephens (TULSA) def. Alberto Gonzalez (UK) 7-6. 6-7. 6-4
Pre-Qualifying Singles – Third Round
Alberto Gonzalez (UK) def. Blake Bowsell (UOK) 5-7, 7-5, 10-7
Pre-Qualifying Singles – Second Round
Alberto Gonzalez (UK) def. Joe Wood (UNM) 6-2, 6-0
Pre-Qualifying Singles – First Round
Alberto Gonzalez (UK) def. Jose Sierra Short (SDSU) 6-2, 6-2
Vasko Mladenov (UTX) def. Alex Lambropoulos (UK) 6-2, 3-6, 10-8
