Upstate Signs Highest-Ranked Recruit In School History In Beretta
5/4/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
May 4, 2009
SPARTANBURG, S.C. - Just weeks after the USC Upstate men's tennis team wrapped up its season by having all six of its starters earning All-Atlantic Sun Conference honors, head coach Alessandro De Marzo announced the signing of the highest-ranked recruit in school history in Duilio Beretta on Monday.
"Duilio is one of the best players in Peru right now and we couldn't be more happy that he has decided to play his collegiate tennis at USC Upstate," De Marzo said. "He has the ability to come in and play at the top of our lineup immediately and he can make an impact nationally during his four years here. He is going to make us a better team right away."
Beretta (Lima, Peru), who will enroll at USC Upstate during the spring semester of the 2009-10 season, is currently ranked 1,439th in the International Tennis Federation rankings and will also serve as an alternate on Peru's 2009 Davis Cup Team. On the ITF Juniors Circuit, Beretta reached as high as 64th in the world in combined (singles and doubles) in March. Beretta has a solid 23-7 record on the ITF Juniors Circuit and also holds a 17-7 doubles mark. Beretta will also play at both the French Open Juniors and Wimbledon Juniors in 2009.
Beretta, 17, had several fine performances while competing on the COSAT (South American Tennis Confederation) Tour, finishing as runner-up at the Inka Bowl and the Peru Junior Open. He also reached the semifinals of the Banana Bowl and the quarterfinals at both the Asuncion Bowl and the Nicolas Machivello Copa Graiman in singles play. In doubles play, he won both the Copa Graiman and the Peru Junior Open while reaching the finals of the prestigious Copa Gerdau and the semifinals of the Banana Bowl.
Beretta also played in the ITF's U-16 Junior Davis Cup in San Luis Potosi, Mexico in September of 2008, helping Peru finish 3-2 and in ninth place at the 16-team event. He won his first singles match, playing in the No. 1 singles match against Russia's Mikhail Biryukov, 6-3, 6-4. Against Australia, he lost a tough three-set match but recovered with a three-set win over Sami Ghorbel, 1-6, 6-3, 6-2 to clinch a 2-1 win over Tunisia.
He continued by posting a 6-3, 6-2 win over Japan's Kita Motoaki and added the clinching doubles win in the win over Peru. Beretta then added another three-set win, 5-7, 7-6 (6), 6-2 over Great Britain's George Morgan and posted another clinching doubles win.
Beretta will also continue a fine tradition of players from Lima, Peru, the capital and largest city in the South American nation that began with Coach De Marzo himself, who played at Upstate from 1999-2002. De Marzo helped bring in a string of players from Lima, including three of the school's seven 100-match winners in Sebastian Gonzales-Orbegoso '08 and juniors Javier Tori and Renzo Airaldi.
The Spartans, who already have the reigning A-Sun Freshman of the Year in Edgar Rodriguez, who held rankings of 1,660 on the ITF singles circuit at the end of 2006 and 1,506 in doubles play, will look for Beretta to immediately step into the top half of the Spartan lineup. Rodriguez, who finished 17-8 overall and 12-5 at No. 1 singles in 2009, also had a career-high ranking of 81st on the ITF Juniors Tour.
The Spartans finished 22-3 overall and with a 9-1 A-Sun record, good for second in the league. Upstate won a school-record 20 matches during the season and won a school-record four A-Sun Player of the Week awards during the season.
