Devvarman rolls into NCAA quarters

By Ed Burton
Published: May 23, 2008

TULSA, Okla. — Virginia senior Somdev Devvarman continued his relentless march toward another NCAA singles championship on Thursday, dispatching the 22nd-ranked collegiate player, Erling Tveit of Mississippi, 6-3, 6-1 to reach the tournament quarterfinals.

The match was rarely in doubt.  Devvarman, the tournament’s top seed, broke Tveit’s serve twice in each set in his domination of the Norwegian-born left-hander. In the second set, Devvarman served 22 times. Nine times in that set, Tveit was unable to return Devvarman’s serve, giving up four clean aces.

With the win, Devvarman reached the quarterfinals and will play Denes Lukacs of Baylor today at 1 p.m. Devvarman broke his own record to achieve his 15th NCAA Championship and now stands 41-1 overall for the 2008 season.  He is the reigning NCAA singles champion and was runner-up in 2006.

Devvarman and doubles partner Treat Huey proved less successful in defending their No. 1 seed in the doubles competition. They went down 6-3, 6-3 at the hands of Texas A&M’s Austin Krajicek and Conor Pollock.

The Cavaliers broke the Aggies’ serve early in the first set, but two A&M service returns took odd bounces to return the break. A Huey double fault gave the Aggies the lead and the serve, and they took advantage to win the set.

Texas A&M broke Huey’s serve at 3-3 in the second set, and the Cavaliers would not win another point.