University of North Carolina Athletics
Raian Luchici Upsets Stanford's Corkery to Advance at Polo All-American
October 6, 2005 | Men's Tennis
Oct. 6, 2005
TULSA, OKLA. - Carolina senior Raian Luchici upset Stanford's KC Corkery, ranked 9th nationally, to advance to the Round of 16 at the Polo Ralph Lauren All-American Championships on Thursday. Corkery and former teammate Sam Warburg are the defending NCAA Doubles Champions.
Luchici was the only player in the entire draw to defeat two opponents ranked among the top 20 in the country. In this morning's opening round, Luchici defeated Miami's Josh Cohen (ranked 20th). The 6-4, 4-6, 6-0 victory avenged a three set loss to Cohen in last year's dual match against Miami.
In Thursday afternoon's match Luchici and Corkery split the first two sets before the Stanford senior went up a break (1-0) in the final set. After Luchici broke back to knot the set at 1-1, both players held serve over the next five games. Serving at 4-3 Corkery was broken and Luchici served out the final game to clinch the victory.
The victory over Corkery was the second top ten player Luchici has defeated in his career. Last season he defeated Duke's Ludovic Walter, who was ranked fifth in the nation. Luchici will face Arizona's Roger Matalonga (ranked 30th) tomorrow morning.
Carolina's doubles team of Luchici and Brad Pomeroy also advanced to the round of 16 late Thursday evening. Luchici and Pomeory were forced to win two matches in qualifying on Wednesday to advance to the 32 team main draw.
The Polo Ralph Lauren All-American Championship is the first leg of the collegiate tennis grand slam. The tournament brings together the top 64 singles players and top 32 doubles teams in the country. This event has been played annually since 1979.
Rd. 64 Singles
Raian Luchici [#27] d. Josh Cohen [#20](Miami) 6-4, 4-6, 6-0
Rd. 32 Singles
Raian Luchici [#27] d. KC Corkery [#9] (Stanford) 2-6, 6-4, 6-3
Doubles Rd. of 32
Luchici/Pomeroy [#50] d. Tveit/Claesson [#20] (Ole Miss) 8-4
Players Mentioned
