Riviera/ITA Women's All-American Championships Results
TULSA, Okla. -- After winning three straight matches to propel him into the event's main draw, Kentucky's Eric Quigley stunned the college tennis world by knocking off the 2009 Campbell/ITA National Player of the Year and top seed Oleksandr Nedovyesov of Oklahoma State at the D'Novo/ITA Men's All-American Championships in Thursday's first round play.
The tournament, hosted by the University of Tulsa at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center, kicked off on Saturday, Oct. 3, with six rounds of pre-qualifying and qualifying singles and doubles leading up to the main-draw competition.
Nedovyesov, the presumed favorite coming into the D'Novo/ITA All-American Championships who finished as runner-up in last year's tournament, fell victim to the 70th-ranked Quigley in straight sets, 7-5, 6-1.
"It was certainly the best match I've ever seen Eric play," said UK men's tennis head coach Dennis Emery. "Over the last set and a half, he won 26 of 28 points on his first serve, which was a key factor in the match. It was a big win for him over a guy who has been ranked at No. 1 in the country a good portion of the last two seasons."
Nedovyesov was not the only seeded player to bow out in first-round play. Of the 16 seeded players in the draw, an astounding seven were upset on day one.
Sixth-seeded Dimitar Kutrovsky of Texas suffered a 2-6, 7-6 (5), 6-2 defeat to Oklahoma's Andrei Daescu, who is ranked No. 40 in the Campbell/ITA College Tennis Rankings. For the first time in the history of the program, three Sooners advanced to the ITA All-American Championships main draw, with two players advancing to the round of 32.
It's been quite a tournament run so far for LSU's Neil Skupski, who notched three qualifying wins to advance to main draw singles, where he defeated fifth-seeded Guillermo Gomez, last year's Singles Consolation Champion, 6-3, 6-4. He and teammate Sebastian Carlsson have also secured a spot in the doubles quarterfinals. Duke's phenom freshman, Henrique Cunha has also made a four-match run into the round of 32, posting a 6-4, 6-4 victory over No. 16 Dean Jackson of San Diego.
In doubles action, three of the top eight-seeded teams were knocked out in the first round. One of the better matchups of the day also produced the biggest upset in the doubles draw. Playing as a doubles team for the first time, Tennessee juniors John-Patrick Smith and Boris Conkic defeated USC's No. 2-seeded Robert Farah and Steve Johnson 9-7. Smith and Conkic trailed 4-2 early but rallied to tie the match 5-5, eventually taking a 6-5 lead. Johnson was able to redeem the loss with an upset of his own in singles, cruising to a 6-4, 6-1 victory over eighth-seeded Jean-Yves Aubone of Florida State.
The tournament's No. 1 doubles team of Jamie Hunt and Nate Schnugg of Georgia were able to fight off Vicente Joli and James Meredith of Boise State. However, Schnugg was not able to overcome two tiebreak sets against North Carolina's Brennan Boyjian in singles play.
Play resumes Friday with quarterfinal doubles matches beginning at 9 a.m. CDT, followed by two rounds of singles.
For complete results and event information, visit www.itatennis.com.