NCAA Division I Tennis Championships

Men’s Singles Draw

May 23, 2009

George P. Mitchell Tennis Center

College Station, Texas

 

Quarterfinals

Sanam Singh (Virginia) def. (1) Arnau Brugues (Tulsa), 6-2, 6-4

(9-16) Steven Moneke (Ohio State) def. (5) Bruno Agostinelli (Kentucky), 6-3, 2-6, 6-2

(9-16) Blake Strode (Arkansas) def. (9-16) Conor Pollock (Texas A&M), 6-3, 4-6, 6-4

Devin Britton (Mississippi) def. Alex Clayton (Stanford), 4-6, 7-6 (3), 6-4

 

Quotes

Sanam Singh (Virginia):

“I played really well today. I played against a great player – the No. 1 player in the country (Tulsa’s Arnau Burgues). I came into the match thinking, ‘I’m just going to play freely. I have nothing to lose.’ My shots were going in and I felt good from the beginning and didn’t have any let downs. The first set was pretty quick, but the second set was really tough. He made me work for the four-all game and I fell down love-40 when I was serving at 3-4 and I held that game. I felt that was the match right there. In the first set, I was surprised with how well I played. It’s just one of those days when you zone in on the first set. The love-40 game was huge. I’m really excited, but I’m just taking it match-by-match and hopefully, I can play the same way tomorrow and keep it going.”

 

Steven Moneke (Ohio State):

“This is my first time to the semis. The past two years, I went to the quarters (as a sophomore and as a junior). Now, I finally get to get over the hump. It’s great. I am a little tired, but I have a lot of confidence in myself. I played well in the team tournament and I like these courts, so I will try to keep it going. I’ve played him (Kentucky’s Bruno Agostinelli) three times already. This is my fourth time to play him and they have all been very close matches. He had a great career at Kentucky. I knew it was going to be a physical match. I had a good start in the third set. It gave me a lot of momentum to go up early in the third set. I kind of had trouble holding, but I kept fighting and kept competing. I am pretty happy with my performance today.”

 

Blake Strode (Arkansas):

“I felt like I was playing the whole state of Texas. It’s fun when you get in an atmosphere like that. It beats no one watching. It was a pretty good crowd and I enjoyed it. There were some swings in there. Early on, I was on top, then he (Texas A&M’s Connor Pollock) definitely grabbed the momentum for a while and then at the end there it was just back and forth going throw for throw. On the last play, I was kind of moving in, because I was thinking he might try to kick wide. I was going to take it early and then he just popped it right up the middle so I just reacted and pulled off a good return.  I caught him by surprise and caught myself a little by surprise. He has a tough second serve, especially in that third set. In the deuce side, he started really swinging me wide a lot with the second serve, so it was kind of hard to know which way to lean. I give him a lot of credit for hitting some good second serves on a lot of those points. He came up with some good shots. A lot of hard work goes into getting here (and to the semifinals), so this is very rewarding.”

 

Devin Britton (Mississippi):

“It’s pretty exciting to move on to the semifinals. I’m just happy to be here. It (the match) definitely could have gone either way. It probably should have gone his (Stanford’s Alex Clayton) way. He had a bunch of chances in the second set and luckily, I had a couple of big serves. I somehow squeezed it out and I am looking forward to tomorrow.”