Three BYU Doubles Duos Advance to Quarterfinals

LAS VEGAS – A BYU doubles team will be featured in three of the four quarterfinal matchups Saturday in the ITA Mountain Region Championships in Las Vegas.

The No. 3 seeded duo of senior Georgy Batrakov and sophomore Patrick Kawka advanced to the quarterfinals with an 8-2 win over Denver’s Alex Clinkenbeard and Luke Manley. Batrakov and Kawka are now 6-1 during fall play.

Freshman Francis Sargeant and junior Spencer Smith (10) upset No. 4 seed Alex Bull and Rene Ruegamer of UNLV, securing a quarterfinal spot with an 8-5 victory. The Cougar duo, who reached the Utah Fall Classic doubles final before falling to teammate Keaton Cullimore and BYU men’s tennis coach Brad Pearce’s son, John, moved to 8-3 during fall play with the win.

Rounding out the three Cougar pairs making quarterfinal appearances is senior Michael Eraso and freshman Cullimore. The duo cruised past Wessim Derbel and Fernando Sunago of Nevada, 8-2, to keep their tournament play alive. The BYU players are undefeated as a duo.

BYU will continue doubles action Saturday.

In singles, No. 10 seed Kawka found himself facing No. 6 seed Smith in the Round of 16 Friday. The teammates battled but it was Kawka who walked away with the 6-4, 6-4 victory.

The win advanced Kawka to the quarterfinals in the main draw where he faced Denver’s Enej Bonin. Kawka was unable to top the No. 3 seed, falling 7-5, 6-4.

Sargeant continues to represent the Cougars in singles in the consolation bracket. Sargeant defeated Willie Sublette of UNLV, 6-1, 6-7, 6-1, in the third round before topping Arizona’s Robin Chou, 6-2, 6-3.

Sargeant will challenge No. 8 seed Giacomo Miccini of Arizona in the consolation quarterfinals Saturday.  

The Mountain Regional Championship is one of 12 USTA/ITA Regional Championships for NCAA Division I men's tennis taking place over the next two weekends of October at campuses throughout the country. The singles and doubles champions from each regional advance to the 2011 USTA/ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships Nov. 3-6 at the indoor facilities at the USTA-Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing, N.Y.

For more information on the tournament, click here.