Upstate Volunteer Peralta Wins William H. Mezger Open Championship
6/22/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
June 22, 2009
SPARTANBURG, S.C. - It wasn't as easy as at the Tennessee Valley Open Championship on June 14, but USC Upstate volunteer assistant coach Julio Peralta still managed to not lose a set in a six-match trek to the 17th Annual William H. Metzger Pennsylvania State Clay Court Open Championship, beating Canadian Frederic Niemeyer, 6-1, 7-6 (5) in the finals on Sunday at the Colonial Country Club in Harrisburg, Pa.
Peralta, who just finished his first year as a member of Upstate's tennis staff after spending five seasons on the ATP Tour, entered the tournament field seeded seventh, but for the second straight week, he blasted through the 61-player bracket by not losing a set. Currently ranked 665th in the world, Peralta will enter his sophomore year as a business administration major in the George Dean Johnson, Jr. College of Business and Economics at USC Upstate this fall. The pro tennis player will serve as a student assistant coach for the Spartans in 2009-10 after acting as a volunteer assistant coach in 2008-09.
In the finals, Peralta faced Canadian Davis Cup team member Frederic Niemeyer. Thanks to a dominating ground game and his ability to return Niemeyer's strong serve, Peralta was able to break the Canadian three times en route to winning the first set, 6-1. In the second set, the players matched up evenly, with the set staying on serve for the first 10 games before Peralta broke Niemeyer's serve. However, for just the second time in two weeks, Niemeyer broke Peralta's serve and sent the second set to a tiebreaker. However, Peralta, came through with a 7-5 win in the tiebreaker to win the tournament, beating the world's 359th-ranked player in the process.
After reaching the quarterfinals by dropping just 10 games in six sets, Peralta became the underdog, starting by facing the tournament's No. 2 seed, Justin O'Neal. A two-time All-American at Florida and currently ranked 688th in the ATP rankings, O'Neal was broken by Peralta twice and that was enough for Peralta to take a 6-4, 6-4 win.
In the semifinals, Peralta faced Nathan Healey, who reached the Metzger Open finals in 2008. Healey, an Australian who reached the third round of the 2006 Australian Open and reached as high as 159th in the ATP rankings, quickly put Peralta in a hole, taking a 4-2 lead and breaking Peralta's serve, but Peralta stormed back by winning nine games in a row to close out the match, 6-4, 6-1.
Peralta's journey to the championship started on Thursday with a 6-1, 6-0 win over Irfan Shamasdin, a two-time All-America East player at Maryland-Baltimore County. He followed that with two wins on Friday to reach the quarterfinals. First, he downed Yevgeny Perepelov, who finished 2008 ranked 1,582nd in the world, 6-1, 6-2, before beating former Haitian Davis Cup team member Carl-Henry Barthold, 6-2, 6-4.
The William H. Metzger Pennsylvania State Clay Court Open Championship grew out of the Pennsylvania State Clay Court Open, as it was transformed in 1993 in memory of Mr. William H. Metzger, an avid player of the sport of tennis. The tournament was played was played for decades at the Country Club of Harrisburg but is now showcased at five Harrisburg area clubs. Former world class pros are a common and anticipated occurrence at the tournament.
