Upstate Volunteer Peralta Wins Tennessee Valley Open Championship
6/16/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
June 16, 2009
SPARTANBURG, S.C. - USC Upstate volunteer assistant coach Julio Peralta posted a 6-4, 6-0 straight-set win over former Ole' Miss All-American Robbye Poole to take the 2009 Icy Hot $13,000 Tennessee Valley Open Championships on Sunday at the Manker Patten Tennis Center in Chattanooga, Tenn.
Peralta, who just finished his first year as a member of Upstate's tennis staff after spending five seasons on the ATP Tour, earned the tournament's top-seed despite never playing in the field. He quickly showed the ranking was deserving as he swept through the first two rounds of the tournament, losing just eight games in four sets.
In the quarterfinals, Peralta downed one of the top tennis recruits in the nation in Ryan Noble, who was ranked 15th in the Class of 2009 by TennisRecruiting.net. The Chilean won in straight sets, 6-2, 6-3 against the North Carolina signee.
In the semifinals, Peralta ran into another top recruit in James Seal, who heads to Georgia in the fall as one of the top 10 recruits in America in the Class of 2009. Peralta won the match, 6-2, 6-2, setting up the finals showdown with defending TVOC champion Poole, who earned All-American honors at Ole' Miss in 2007 and is currently ranked 1,327th in the ATP rankings while playing full-time on the Futures Tour.
Peralta, who is currently working on his degree in business administration at the George Dean Johnson, Jr. College of Business and Economics at USC Upstate, won the purse of $2,000 for taking the singles title, as he swept all 10 sets and lost just 21 games during the tournament. Peralta is still currently ranked 668th in the current South African Airways ATP Tour rankings after having reached a high of 212 in December of 2007.
The TVOC, which is an United States Tennis Association tournament, had nearly 300 players during its four-day run, with championships being held in an open division and in age-group competition from 35 to 75. The tournament had a total purse of $13,000 for the professionals.
