ATLANTA, Ga. (UCFKnights.com) – The UCF men's tennis team opened the main draws of the ITA Southeast Regional at Georgia Tech on Saturday.
Three Knights reached the second round of the singles tournament. Following a first-round bye for both doubles teams, the Black and Gold put one pairing into the quarterfinals.
ITA/Oracle No. 23 Korey Lovett, the No. 2 seed this weekend, moved into the second round after Oliver Stuart from Miami retired in the second set with an injury. Lovett will play Fermin Calvo from Kennesaw State University on Sunday.
Freshman Mikhail Sokolovskiy cruised as the No. 16 seed against Jordan Belga from Florida, 6-2, 6-4. The Russian international will go up against Phillip Gresk in the second round.
Danny Kerznerman outlasted his first-round opponent Terrence Whitehurst, 7-6(3), 6-4, in order to reach the second round. The Brooklyn native will play Grayson Goldin of USF on Sunday.
Kerznerman and Lovett paired up for doubles action. The duo earned a spot in the round of 16 with a tiebreak victory against Stetson's Malik Bhatnagar and Loic Blonco, 8-7 (6). The Knights will face Andy Andrade and McClain Kessler from Florida on Sunday.
Sokolovskiy and Enrique Paya played as the other doubles group. In tight second-round bout, the pairing fell to Jordan Belga and Stephen Madonia from Florida 8-7 (8).
Rookie Vasyl Kiselyov dropped his two singles qualifying draw matches on Friday to Andrei Duarte of Georgia State (6-4, 7-6(5)) and KSU's Bryan Triana (6-2, 3-6, 6-4).
In singles action, Paya fell in the first round to No. 10 seeded Walker Duncan from Georgia, 6-4, 6-4, to set up a consolation match on Sunday with Chris Yun from Georgia Tech.
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