ORLANDO, Fla. – Gabriel Decamps' historic run continues as he earned a three-set victory over TCU's No. 17 Luc Fomba by a count of 5-7, 6-3, 6-4 to advance to the NCAA Singles Championships quarterfinals.
"It feels great to advance," said Decamps. "It was another tough match and tough battle. In this tournament, there are no easy matches. I'm very proud of myself and how I competed today."
The first set saw each side stay stride for stride with each other for most of the way. Each side held serve for the majority of the match as it was tied at 5-5 after ten games. The first break of the match came at Decamps' expense as Fomba took a late lead and held serve on the final game to win 7-5.
"It felt like in the first set he had some chances to break," said Director of Tennis John Roddick. "On the changeover, it was one of those rare instances where we didn't make any adjustments. Even though we lost the set, it felt like we had the momentum and the gameplan we wanted, it just came down to executing.
The second set was a completely different script. Decamps held serve out of the gate and then broke Fomba to take a 2-0 lead. The two continued to break each other for seven consecutive games, giving Decamps a 5-3 lead. He was able to close it out in the following game, taking the second stanza 6-3.
"I think the choppiness of the second set benefited Gabe," said Roddick. "As coaches, we don't like to see all those breaks, but at the same time, the way that momentum was going we knew there was nothing to panic about. It was certainly different, you don't see that too often. For whatever reason, that seemed to play in our favor a little bit more."
Decamps earned an early break in the final frame, taking an early 2-1 lead. The two sides continued to exchange holds as Decamps had to weather through five aces in the third set. Despite the impressive serve of Fomba, Decamps went on to win the set 6-4.
"It was a good third set, it was kind of a shame that someone had to lose," said Roddick. "They were both pretty clean for the third set, it was a good quality set.
Decamps became the first Knight to play in the NCAA Singles Championships Round of 16 and gets to say the same about reaching the quarterfinals. Korey Lovett was the first Knight to win a match in the singles draw in 2017 but ran into the No. 1 national seed in the round of 32 and fell in straight sets. Decamps and Lovett are the only UCF players to qualify for the singles postseason tournament.
"Gabe deserves this," said Roddick. "He works hard and has proven that he is an elite player in the country over the last two seasons. We're proud of his effort. It shows you how narrow the margin is, being down match points in the first round; all these guys at this tournament are good. He wants to keep going, we've got a lot more tennis if he keeps playing well."
Not only has Decamps set school records, but now is approaching a conference record. The last American Athletic Conference singles player to reach the quarterfinals of the NCAA Singles Championships was South Florida's Roberto Cid back in 2016. No player out of The American has ever advanced past the quarterfinals as Decamps looks to become the first tomorrow.
UP NEXT
Bogdan Pavel and Trey Hilderbrand are set to begin their NCAA Doubles Championships match at 6 p.m. this evening against No. 44 Loic Cloes and Clement Marzol. As for Decamps, he is slated to face the No. 1 nationally seeded and ranked Liam Draxl out of Kentucky at noon tomorrow.
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