Nov. 5, 2010
LEXINGTON, Ky. – After falling in the first round of the singles main draw Thursday, University of Kentucky men’s tennis junior Eric Quigley advanced to the quarterfinals of the singles consolation bracket with a victory over No. 30 Juan Hernandez of North Carolina at the USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships on Friday.
Quigley was impressive in the first-round battle against Hernandez, taking down the top-30 ranked player in straight sets. The native of Pewee Valley, Ky., took the first set from Hernandez 6-4 and followed with another 6-4 win in the second set to take the match.
Quigley will be in action again Saturday, playing in the singles consolation quarterfinals against No. 33 Ionut Beleleu. If Quigley wins his quarterfinal match, he will play in the semifinals later Saturday afternoon. Live scores and updated draws for the tournament will be posted on the Intercollegiate Tennis Association website. Times for Saturday’s action have not been released.
In singles main draw first round Thursday, Quigley fell to Blaz Rola of Ohio State, who is second in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association preseason singles poll for freshman and newcomers and has an ATP ranking of 417. Quigley took the first set from the talented freshman in a tiebreaker 7-6, but then Rola responded with a second-set tiebreaker win to force a decisive third set. In the third, Rola jumped out to a 3-0 lead and didn’t look back from there, taking the match 6-7, 7-6, 6-2.
Quigley was also in action in the morning Friday, playing in the doubles consolation bracket with senior Brad Cox. The Kentucky duo, which fell in the first round of the doubles main draw Thursday, lost a hard-fought match to Aleksey Bessonov and Rifat Biktyakov of Oklahoma State 8-6 to eliminate the UK tandem for the tournament.
The event features the nation’s top men’s and women’s collegiate tennis players. The championships feature a 32-player singles field and 16-team doubles field for men and women, including champions from USTA/ITA Regional Championships held across the country during October, the USTA/ITA National Small College “Super Bowl” champions, the doubles champions and singles quarterfinalists from the D’Novo/ITA Men’s and Riviera/ITA Women’s All-American Championships, as well as at-large and wild card selections made by the ITA National Tournament Committee.
The National Indoors Championship was inaugurated in 1978 for the men and 1984 for the women. Past champions and finalists include current professionals Benjamin Becker (Baylor), James Blake (Harvard), Bob and Mike Bryan (Stanford), Somdev Devvarman (Virginia), Laura Granville (Stanford), John Isner (Georgia), and Lisa Raymond (Florida). Big Ten legends and Grand Slam finalists Todd Martin (Northwestern) and MaliVai Washington (Michigan) are also among the past champions.
USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships
Schedule of Play
Saturday, Nov. 6 – 9 a.m. ET
Men’s and Women’s Doubles Semifinals
Men’s and Women’s Singles Semifinals
Men’s and Women’s Singles Consolation Semifinals
Sunday, Nov. 7 – 10 a.m. ET
Men’s and Women’s Doubles Finals
Men’s and Women’s Consolation Finals
Men’s and Women’s Singles Finals
