Top three seeds reach the semifinals

CHRIS HUMPHREYS

Published: June 13, 2008

There was only one upset in the Men’s Open Singles Draw in the 48th Central Virginia Tennis Tournament at Oakwood on Friday, though, the first two seeds appeared to be in some trouble at least briefly and three of the four quarterfinal matches had at least a few dramatic moments.

With a start time around 9:30 a.m., top-seeded Brett Ross dropped the first set to fifth-seeded William Noblitt 6-2. Noblitt also held serve to open the second set and take a 1-0 lead, but Ross woke up and ran away with the match.

He rallied to win 12 consecutive games to take the second set 6-1 and the third set 6-0 and advance to today’s first semifinal match at noon.

“He’s a solid player and makes it easy to beat yourself and I didn’t feel in a good rhythm in the first set,” Ross said. “He didn’t give me any easy ball and the first set was a quick one. I just started hitting it a little cleaner.”

It wasn’t the first time that Ross, a 2006 graduate of Wake Forest, found himself trailing Noblitt and dramatically turned things around.

“We played two years ago in the final of the North Carolina Closed,” Ross said. “It was tough match. He was up 5-1 in the third set but ended up winning 7-5. I knew it was going to be a tough battle here.”

Ross will face third-seeded Albert Larregola. Larregola was the only quarterfinalist to really cruise into the semis with a 6-2, 6-0 victory over seventh-seeded Jason Pinsky, who graduated from the University of Pennsylvania earlier this year.

“I played pretty well and felt good,” Larregola said. “I just need to keep believing in myself and we’ll see how it goes.”

Larregola played No. 1 singles at Virginia Tech this past season. The Barcelona native will return to Blacksburg this fall to finish his work on accounting degree before at-tempting to tour professionally.

Jason’s younger brother, Jared, gave second-seeded Treat Huey, a scare. Huey took a 3-0 lead in the first set but Jared won the next five game to take a 5-3 lead and eventually broke Huey to take the first set 7-5.

“I was down 3-0 and didn’t even expect to win that,” Pinsky said. “I was feeling pretty good.”

After seven combined service breaks in the first set, Huey had the second set’s only break of service in the fifth game to take a 3-2 lead and claimed the second set 6-4.

Huey, the No. 2 singles player at the University of Virginia, roared out the gate again in the third set by jumping out to 3-0 lead. Pinsky, a rising sophomore at Duke, rallied to win three of the next four games, but Huey won the final two games to finish out the match at 6-3.

“I played alright today but have been hampered by a hamstring that’s been a little (sore) the last few days,” Huey said. “So I haven’t been as fast as I normally am and that’s a big key to how I play. (Pinsky) definitely played well today, moved me around and used that to his advantage. He ran a lot of balls down and did a great job of making me play.”

Said Pinsky: “I was pretty, streaky today. I would play a few good games and then make some quick errors and not work the point. I just wish I could have been a little tougher and not given so many points away so easily.”

Huey, who needs one class this summer to graduate, is planning on traveling and playing some pro tennis.

He will face Radford University’s rising senior and No. 1 singles player, Martin Sayer, at 1:30 in today’s second semifinal match.

Sayer, the sixth seed, won the first three points of a first set tie-break and eventually knocked off fourth-seeded Ted Angelinos 7-6 (4), 6-4.

Angelinos was a senior and played fifth and sixth singles at the University of Virginia this past season.

“He was a very tough player,” Sayer said. “I got lucky and won the first set. I think a played the big points better than he did. It was very important (to get up early in the tie-break). I really focused hard.”

Sayer was born in Hong Kong, but is English.

“It’s (been a) good time and there were a lot people here,” Sayer said. “More than in college, it’s fun playing in front of everybody.”