Klegou advances to ITA Quarterfinals

TULSA, OK -- Texas A&M senior Alexis Klegou (pronounced CLAY-goo) continues a terrific run in the main draw of the ITA All-American Tennis Championships being held at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Klegou defeated BYU's Georgy Batrakov in the Round of 16 match on Friday, 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 and will face USC's Daniel Nguyen in the quarterfinals on Saturday at 10 a.m. If Klegou is victorious, he would face either the No. 6 aseed Dennis Nevolo from Illinois or Mitchell Frank from Virginia in the semifinals at 2 p.m.

"I am really excited about Goo's  (Klegou) performance this week," Aggie head coach Steve Denton said. "He is competing very well and especially in the big points. He has shown a lot of maturity. He had a horrendous start getting down 4-0 in the first set, but he found a way to turn things around. He would be the first to tell you that he could have played better, but the mark of a great player is not playing your best and still finding a way to win. He will need to raise his level of play tomorrow against Nguyen from USC. Nguyen is a big reason why the Trojans have three-peated as national champions. He is not new to pressure-packed matches and he is very experienced and has had a great career at SC."

In today's match, Klegou rebounded from dropping the first set, 5-7, to post 6-4 wins in the second and third sets. In the third set, Klegou broke Batrakov's serve to go up 5-4 and then closed out the match on serve.

Klegou, a 6-2 righthander from Dunkerque, France, is the logical choice to assume the No. 1 position in the Aggie lineup after three seniors graduated including All-Americans Austin Krajicek and Jeff Dadamo as well as Alexey Grigorov from Russia. Klegou played the majority of time at the No. 4 line last spring and posted a 21-2 dual record which included a 13-0 mark at the No. 4 position and Klegou brings a 15-match winning streak into dual play in the spring of 2012.

Klegou won the clinching point in the Aggie's Big 12 Championship match against Oklahoma last spring as the Aggies won the team title and then Klegou won the deciding point in the NCAA second-round match against LSU as the Aggies finished the 2011 spring season ranked No. 10 in the country.

Klegou is ranked No. 42 in the pre-season ITA rankings. In the first round, he faced the No. 2 seed in the tournament field and the country's No. 3-ranked player in Eric Quigley from Kentucky and defeated Quigley, 7-6 (1), 6-3, in straight sets. In the second round, Klegou beat Sadio Doumbia from Georgia, 6-4, 6-3.

2011 ITA Men's All-American Championships

Michael D. Case Tennis Center

Tulsa, Oklahoma

Surface: Hard-Outdoor

 

Friday, October 7 - RESULTS

Main Draw Singles- Third Round

Alexis Klegou (Texas A&M) def. Georgy Batrakov (BYU), 5-7, 6-4, 6-4

 

 

Thursday, October 6 - RESULTS

Main Draw Singles - Second Round

Alexis Klegou (Texas A&M) def. Sadio Doumbia (Georgia) 6-4, 6-3

 

Main Draw Singles - First Round

Alexis Klegou (Texas A&M) def. No. 2 Eric Quigley (Kentucky) 7-6 (1), 6-3

 

Wednesday, October 5 - RESULTS

Qualifying Doubles-Finals

T. Mihov-P. Siributwong (Oklahoma) def. C. Hoover-A. Klegou (Texas A&M) 8-5

 

Qualifying Doubles - Third Round

C. Hoover-A. Klegou (Texas A&M) def. S. Hess-D. Holiner (Texas) 8-5

T. Manner-A. Pelaez (Illinois St) def. J. Szabo-J. Withrow (Texas A&M) 8-4

 

Tuesday, October 4 - RESULTS

Qualifying Singles - Second Round

Juan Melian Puigventos (Georgia Tech) def. Alberto Bautista (Texas A&M) 0-6, 7-5, 6-1

Vitor Manzini (Texas Tech) def. Niall Angus (Texas A&M) 7-6(9), 7-5

Roy Kalmanovich (Illinois) def. Junior Ore (Texas A&M) 2-6, 6-3, 7-6(7)

Qualifying Doubles - Second Round

C. Hoover-A. Klegou (Texas A&M) def. E. Blumenkranz-J. Samaha (Yale) 8-0

G. Baktrakov-P. Kawka (BYU) def. A. Bautista-J. Ore (Texas A&M) 8-5

Qualifying Doubles - First Round

J. Burkhardt-W. Parker (UNC) def. N. Angus-J. Efferding (Texas A&M) 8-1

Qualifying Consolation Singles

Colin Hoover (Texas A&M) def. Alex Brigham (UCLA) 6-4, 6-2

 

 

Monday, October 3-RESULTS

Qualifying Singles-First Round

Junior Ore (Texas A&M) def. Dane Webb (Oklahoma) 3-6, 6-3, 6-4

Alberto Bautista (Texas A&M) def. Zach White (Mississippi State) 4-6, 6-2, 6-1

Niall Angus (Texas A&M) def. Jenson Turner (Pepperdine) 2-6, 6-4, 6-4

No. 5 seed Nikola Bubnic (San Diego) def. Colin Hoover (Texas A&M) 6-2, 7-6 (7)

Yannick Maden (Clemson) def. Jeremy Efferding (Texas A&M) 6-3, 6-1

 

Sunday, October 2 - RESULTS

 

Pre-Qualifying Singles - Final Round

Jeremy Efferding (Texas A&M) def. Javier Pulgar (San Diego State) 6-3, 6-3

Pre-Qualifying Singles - Third Round

Alen Salibasic (Drake) def. Jackson Withrow (Texas A&M) 6-3, 6-3

Jeremy Efferding (Texas A&M) def. Hunter Harrington (Clemson) 2-6, 7-6(6), 6-0

Johan Backstrom (Ole Miss) def. Daniel Brown (Texas A&M) 6-3, 7-6(3)

Saturday, October 1- RESULTS

Pre-Qualifying Singles - Second Round

Jackson Withrow (Texas A&M) def. Cody Hall (South Alabama) 6-4, 7-6 (4)

Jeremy Efferding (Texas A&M) def. Robert Verzaal (Baylor) 3-6, 6-3, 6-2

Daniel Brown (Texas A&M advances after Ola Bakke (San Francisco) withdrew

Pre-Qualifying Singles - First Round

Joe Salisbury (Memphis) def. John Lewis (Texas A&M) 6-7 (4), 6-4, 6-4

Carlin Murray (Louisiana-Lafayette) def. Beau Blackshear (Texas A&M ) 6-2, 6-0

Ramiro Blanco (USC Upstate) def. Jordan Szabo (Texas A&M) 6-4, 6-4

Jeremy Efferding (Texas A&M) def. Matthew Langley (Middle Tennessee) 6-2, 6-1

Daniel Brown (Texas A&M) def. Skip Span (Illinois St.) 6-0, 4-6, 6-2

Jackson Withrow (Texas A&M) BYE