Cavaliers Reach NCAA Singles and Doubles Semifinals
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May 26, 2007
ATHENS, Ga. – Two members of the Virginia men’s tennis team continued their strong play at the NCAA Individual Championships with a pair of wins on quarterfinal Saturday at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex. Junior Somdev Devvarman (Chennai, India) cruised into the semifinals of the singles draw, while Devvarman and fellow junior Treat Huey (Alexandria, Va.) advanced to the doubles semifinals.
Second-seeded Devvarman advanced to the singles semifinals for the second consecutive year, rolling past No. 6 seed Arnau Brugues of Tulsa 6-0, 6-2. Devvarman opened the match strong, taking the first set 6-0, losing just six points in the process. Brugues, who won the ITA All-American Championship title in the fall, tried to mount a comeback in the second set, taking an early 2-0 lead. However, Devvarman regrouped and rolled off six straight games to close out the match, 6-0, 6-2.
“Overall, I thought I played a good match,” Devvarman said. “Brugues is a very good player and I felt like I had to play well to beat him. I got off to another strong start today, which has been important. If a match goes three sets, I feel like I’ll have my fitness to back me up.”
The win was Devvarman’s 42nd singles win of the season, extending his school record. The victory was also Devvarman’s tenth career NCAA Singles Championship win, setting a new school and ACC record. Former Cavalier Brian Vahaly (98-01) had set the ACC and school career NCAA Singles Tournament win record with nine. Devvarman also becomes the first player in ACC history to reach the NCAA Semifinals twice in his career. Last year, he fell to Benjamin Kohlloeffel of UCLA in the final.
Devvarman and Huey, the No. 2 seed in the doubles draw, downed No. 24 Erling Tveit and Eric Claesson of Mississippi 6-4, 6-4 in the quarterfinals. In the first set, the teams remained on serve through seven games, with the Ole Miss duo leading 4-3. The Rebels went up 15-40 on Devvarman’s serve, but the Cavalier team fought off the two break points against and held to draw even, 4-4. Devvarman and Huey used that momentum to break Tveit’s serve in the next game and Huey held serve to close out the first set 6-4. Virginia went up an early break, 2-0, in the second set. The Virginia team held that advantage until Huey’s serve was broken to draw Ole Miss even at 4-4. However, the Cavalier duo broke right back on Claesson’s serve and Devvarman held at love to finish off the 6-4, 6-4 victory.
“I thought we played well today,” Huey said. “We knew coming in that Tveit had one of the biggest serves in college tennis and that we had to return well. We didn’t return as well as we did in the previous matches, but came up big when we had to and got a break to take the first set. In the second, we got up early but I got broken to make it 4-4, the first time we had been broken all tournament. We did a good job of focusing and breaking back and took the final two games to win the match. We are playing well and are excited for the semifinals tomorrow.”
With the victory, Devvarman and Huey become the second Cavalier team to reach the NCAA Doubles Semifinals. Vahaly and Huntley Montgomery made the semifinals of the 2001 tournament in Athens.
Devvarman will play No. 4 seed Kevin Anderson of Illinois in the semifinal round Sunday. Anderson advanced with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 win over Miami’s Luigi D’Agord in the quarterfinals Saturday. Devvarman defeated Anderson 4-6, 7-6, 10-8 earlier this season when the two met at No. 1 singles in the Cavaliers’ 5-2 dual match win over the Illini on January 28 at the Boyd Tinsley Courts. Anderson and Devvarman are the only two players that remain alive in both the singles and doubles tournaments. Devvarman and Huey will play Marco Born and Andreas Siljestrom of Middle Tennessee in the semifinals Sunday. Born and Siljestrom, seeded 5-8, downed No. 3 seeded Jesse Levine and Greg Ouellette of Florida 6-7, 6-4, 6-2 in the quarterfinals. The teams have met once before, with the Middle Tennessee team scoring an 8-5 win in the semifinals of the 2005 UVa Fall Invitational.