Georgia’s Javier Garrapiz and Drake Bernstein each advanced in their round of 16 matches Saturday in the Wilson/ITA Southeast Regional, meaning the teammates will meet one another in the quarterfinal round Sunday at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex.

Seventh-seeded Garrapiz posted two straight-set victories to earn his spot in the quarters, downing Florida’s Billy Ferderhofer 6-0, 6-1 in the round of 32 before defeating Miami’s Waylon Chin 6-2, 6-4 in his second match. Bernstein knocked off South Florida’s Thomas Estrada in straight sets of 6-2 before edging Juan Spir of Georgia Tech by the same score in the round of 16.

Garrapiz and Bernstein will face off tomorrow at 10 a.m. with Georgia guaranteed to be represented in the semifinals. They will then come back as a doubles pair later in the afternoon.

“It was a fantastic day for Drake and Javy,” said head coach Manuel Diaz. “Unfortunately now they have to play each other, but sometimes you can’t control that. We saw a lot of good tennis today, some really good things.”

UGA’s Nate Schnugg – the tournament’s No. 1 seed and the defending tournament champion – was forced to retire due to an apparent knee injury in his round of 16 match Saturday. Schnugg had advanced with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Stetson’s Owen Long, and was leading 5-2 in the first set against Georgia Tech’s Miguel Muguruza before the injury.

Schnugg will undergo an MRI on Sunday and will likely default his Sunday doubles match with teammate Jamie Hunt.

“Obviously we are concerned about Nate, but the early indication seemed like the injury wasn’t of the worst kind,” Diaz said. “We’re hopeful this won’t affect his entire year.”

In other singles action, Christian Vitulli earned a victory over Magin Ortiga of GT, 6-3, 5-7, 6-4, before falling 6-2, 6-4 to fourth-seeded Alex Lacroix of Florida in the round of 16. Hunt fell in the round of 32 to Georgia Tech’s Dusan Miljevic, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, while Borja Malo also suffered a loss in that round, dropping his match by a score of 6-2, 6-4 to Antoine Benneteau of UF.

The Bulldogs’ Alex Hill and Will Reynolds each suffered losses in consolation singles.

In doubles action Saturday, Schnugg and Hunt posted an 8-4 victory over Johnny Hamui and Dan Cash of the Gators in their quarterfinals contest, while Garrapiz and Bernstein knocked off the Florida State team of Aaron May and Anderson Reed, 8-3, in the quarterfinals to advance to tomorrow’s semifinal round.

Action begins tomorrow at 10 a.m. on the UGA campus, starting with the singles quarterfinals, with singles semifinals and doubles semifinals to follow. The tournament continues through Monday. The singles and doubles winners advance to the ITA National Indoor Tournament in November.

- Georgia Sports Communications