Oct. 21, 2007
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Auburn's Alexey Tsyrenov and Terence Nugent are still alive as the 2007 ITA Southeast Regional heads into championship Monday as the duo is set to compete in the doubles semifinals.
The team is set to take on Ole Miss' Bram ten Berge and Matthias Wellermann in the semifinal matchup at 9:30 a.m., Monday.
"It is encouraging for our doubles to have a team this far in the tournament," said head coach Eric Shore. "I'm excited for them and it is obviously a good opportunity for them, they are playing really well."
Tsyrenov and Nugent had to make it through four opponents to make it to the semifinal round. They won by default in their first round matchup by way of injury and then beat Murray State's Chris Horton and Hunter Gerlach, 8-2.
The duo downed Kentucky's Will Ward and Marcus Sundh in the third round, 9-8 (6), before beating out Florida's Johnny Hamui and Jeff Dadamo, 8-5, to advance to Monday's semifinals.
In the singles bracket, Tsyrenov finished as the top Tiger, advancing to the round of 32. He beat Ole Miss' Jakob Klaeson, 6-2, 7-5 on Friday before falling to Miami's Daniel Valverdu, 6-4, 6-1 on Saturday.
"Alexey lost to the No. 4 overall seed in singles, so he is playing better," said Shore. "I thought we had a solid effort and are continuing to improve."
Nugent and Pawel Dilaj were both knocked out of singles play on Friday. Dilaj lost to Florida's Dan Cash, 2-6, 7-6 (4), 6-4, while Nugent lost to Vanderbilt's Vijay Paul, 6-4, 6-2.