Sophomore Andrey Goryachkov of BYU took the singles title and teammates junior Francis Sargeant and freshman Sterling Galli won the doubles title Saturday in the Utah Fall Tennis Classic.
"I was happy for Andrey," BYU coach Brad Pearce said. "He came out intense and clearly showed he wanted to win. Sterling, as a freshman, showed he has a pretty good feel for doubles. We just need to improve in every aspect of the game and put in a lot of hard work to be ready for the season in January."
The first match of the day pitted No. 1 seed Sargeant against No. 2 seed Goryachkov to decide the singles champion. For most of the first set, the pair exchanged wins, alternating every other game. After the ninth game Sargeant led 5-4. Goryachkov came out fired up and held strong, knotting the set at 5-5. Momentum was in his favor as he took a 6-5 lead and clinched the game to take a 1-0 set lead with a decisive 7-5 win. His momentum would prove to carry him through to win the second set 6-2, becoming the seventh BYU player in the past seven years to win the singles tournament.
In the doubles final match, Sargeant and Galli faced Justin Archer and Cameron Lee, from the University of Utah. With help from his teammate Galli, Sargeant bounced back and took the doubles title, 8-4. Sargeant avenged his loss in the previous year's tournament to Archer. Archer and his teammate Rafael Davidian upset Sargeant and Spencer Smith, 9-8, in the second round of the 2012 Utah Fall Tennis Classic. The victory marks the third consecutive year that a team with BYU players has won the doubles title in this tournament.
Players from the BYU men's tennis team will be in action the end of September as they continue their fall tournament schedule at the ITA All-American Championships. To view BYU's upcoming schedule click here.
To view the results from the 2013 Utah Fall Tennis Classic click here.
Singles
F | Goryachkov, def. Sargeant, 7-5, 6-2
Doubles
F| Galli-Sargeant, def. Archer-Lee, 8-4