Montes advances to NCAA Quarterfinals with upset of No. 2 seed Rodrigues

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

Virginia men’s tennis sophomore Iñaki Montes advanced to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Singles Championship with a three-set victory against Daniel Rodrigues of South Carolina on Wednesday at the NCAA Individuals Championships, being held at the Khan Outdoor Tennis Complex in Champaign, Illinois.

Montes dropped his first set 6-3, but rebounded by going up an early break in the second set and holding on for a 6-2 win. In the third set, Montes went up 5-0, but Rodrigues held and then broke Montes on a deuce point. Montes broke back to win the third set 6-2 and advance to the quarterfinals where he will face reigning national champion Sam Riffice of Florida on Thursday,

Rodrigues is the 2-seed in the championship, but holds the No. 1 spot in the last ITA Singles rankings. It was the third top-10 victory of the week for Montes in Champaign after twice defeating No. 10 Johannus Monday of Tennessee, once in the team championship and again on Tuesday in the second round of the singles championship. It was the first time a Cavalier player has defeated a No. 1 ranked singles player since Thai-Son Kwiatkowski defeated No. 1 Mikael Torpegaard in the Round of 16 of the 2017 NCAA Singles Championship.

Montes downed Peter Makk of Southern California on 6-3, 6-1 Monday night to start his run. He advanced to the Round of 16 with a 6-2, 6-1 win against Monday in the second round. Monday, with his No. 10 ranking, was a 9-16 seed in the tournament.

Montes and Riffice faced one another last Thursday in the NCAA Quarterfinals. Montes won that match 7-5, 6-4.

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Results
R 64 Iñaki Montes (UVA) def. Peter Makk (USC) 6-3, 6-1
R 32 Iñaki Montes de la Torre (UVA) def. #9-16 Johannus Monday (TENN) 6-2, 6-1
R16 Iñaki Montes de la Torre (UVA) def. #2 Daniel Rodrigues (SC) 3-6, 6-2, 6-2