Oct. 29, 2010
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By Doug Richards
UCFAthletics.com
UCF Invitational Brackets in PDF Format
ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFAthletics.com) - On Friday, the UCF men's tennis team opened its final event of the fall, the UCF Invitational, in nearly perfect fashion at the UCF Tennis Complex. The Knights picked up 10 singles win during day one of the event.
Florida Atlantic, Georgia Southern and Embry-Riddle are also competing at the tournament.
In the top singles draw (Gold), senior Blaze Schwartz picked up a pair of wins to advance to the semifinals. In the quarterfinals, he defeated his teammate, junior Joe Delinks (Falmouth, Mass.), 6-3, 6-2. Schwartz will play Florida Atlantic's Marc Abelnour in the semifinals Saturday morning.
Junior Claudio Romano (Valencia, Venezuela) had a first-round bye in the Gold Draw, and then topped Jan Hoekzema of Embry-Riddle (6-4, 6-1) to advance to the semifinals. Romano will face Juan Puigventos of Georgia Southern Saturday.
"It was a good first day," UCF head coach Bobby Cashman. "Our goal is to get better every day, and hopefully that will continue as the tournament progresses."
In the Singles Black Draw, three UCF freshmen - Erik Brunskog (Linkoping, Sweden), Matthew Gladstone (Surfside, Fla.) and Leonel Vivas (Caracas, Venezuela) - all advanced to the semifinals. Gladstone will face Vivas in one semifinal match.
In the doubles Black Draw, Gladstone and sophomore Mario Samson (Miami, Fla.) posted an opening round win over Andrew Sloan (Florida Atlantic) and Alex Yullie (Georgia Southern), 8-2.
The tournament will resume Saturday at 8:30 a.m. Admission to the event is free. Play will conclude Sunday morning.
Singles Gold Draw First Round
Joe Delinks (UCF) def. Matthjis Verdam (GSU) 6-4, 7-5
Blaze Schwartz (UCF) def. Peter Francis (ERAU) 6-3, 7-6 (3)
Juan Puigventos (GSU) def. Mario Samson (UCF) 6-1, 6-3
Singles Gold Draw Quarterfinals
Blaze Schwartz (UCF) def. Joe Delinks (UCF) 6-3, 6-2
Claudio Romano (UCF) def. Jan Hoekzema (ERAU) 6-4, 6-1
Singles Black Draw First Round
Leonel Vivas (UCF) def. Alex Yuille (GSU) 6-1, 6-1
Erik Brunskog (UCF) def. Sean de la Bastide (ERAU) 6-2, 6-2
Matthew Zachary (UCF) def. Thomas Bekkers (GSU) 6-3, 6-1
Singles Black Draw Quarterfinals
Matthew Gladstone (UCF) def. Mark Paetz (GSU) 6-4, 6-1
Leonel Vivas (UCF) def. David Spennare (ERAU) 6-3, 6-1
Erik Brunskog (UCF) def. Marco Osorio (GSU) 6-3, 6-7, 6-2
Oliver Webb (FAU) def. Matthew Zachary (UCF) 6-3, 6-3
Doubles Gold Draw First Round
Juan Puigventos/Matthjis Verdam (GSU) def. Claudio Romano/Leonel Vivas (UCF) 8-3
Doubles Black Draw First Round
Mario Samson/Matthew Gladstone (UCF) def. Andrew Sloan (FAU)/Alex Yullie (GSU) 8-2