@RaginCajunsMT's Dolan Performs Well In AMT Platinum Series Tournament

PERTH, AUSTRALIA – This past week, Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns men's tennis sophomore Pearse Dolan, took part in the AMT Platinum Series, where he advanced to the quarterfinals of the main draw, winning five matches along the way in what's considered the highest level tournament held in Perth, Australia.

WHAT IS THE AMT PLATINUM SERIES: The AMT (Australia Money Tournaments) Platinum Series is considered to be one of the top tournaments held in the Tennis West region of Australia. The tournament consisted of 64 entries in the qualifying portion of the draws, and the main draw consisted of 16 men, six of which came through the qualifying section of the draw.

DOLAN GOES ON A TEAR: For Dolan to get through to the main draw he had to win four matches at the top end of the qualifying round bracket, which he did in dominating fashion. Over the four matches that he played, and won, only one of those matches went three-sets, giving Dolan three straight-set wins during the qualifying round.

He began his journey towards the main draw with a Round One victory over Alex Espositos 6-1, 6-1. In Round Two Dolan defeated Alex Carroll, who's ranked No. 389 in Australia, 6-3, 6-1, to move onto the what would become his biggest challenge during the qualifying matches.

In Dolan's Round Three match he faced off with the qualifying round's No. 1 seed, Josh Laka. Laka, who's ranked No. 119 in Australia, came out and handed Dolan his first set loss of the tournament, taking the first set 7-5. But Dolan tapped into his competitive juices, and over the next two sets he would come storming back, winning the match 5-7, 6-4, 6-1.

With a ticket to the main draw as the reward, Dolan easily dispatched Patrick Douglas, ranked No. 378 in Australia, in straight sets, 6-1, 6-0, to win in Round Four and punch his ticket to the main draw.

Dolan's first match in the main draw was against Gen Naraya, ranked No. 192 in Australia, and Dolan found himself in a battle. Both sets in Dolan's straight set win went to a tiebreaker, but in both breakers, Dolan handled his business winning the match 7-6(3), 7-6(5) to move onto the quarterfinals.

In the quarterfinals Dolan came up against the tournament's No. 1 seed Brydan Klein. Klein is ranked by the ATP No. 150 in doubles and No. 437 in singles, but Dolan made sure the eventual tournament champion got his toughest match of the event. It went three-sets, with Dolan coming out on fire taking the first set, but when the dust cleared Klein would come away with the win, 2-6, 6-2, 7-6(7). The tiebreaker was close, and Dolan even had a match point, but Klein held on to get the win.

QUOTEWORTHY:
(Head Coach Mark Jeffrey)
"This is really great news for Pearse, as he took his game to another level. Playing against a 14.50 UTR player and having this amount of success bodes well for him with the remainder of the summer ahead of him. Klein is the equivalent of a Top-10 collegiate player so this result alone puts Pearse in elite company within the Sun Belt Conference. We look to Pearse to string together some consistency and carry this into the fall once he makes it back to Lafayette in August. We have an incredibly tough 2018 fall schedule for the guys ahead so we look for all our guys to have competitive summers to put themselves in position to compete at a high level this fall."

THE JOHN BREAUX IS COMING: Louisiana kicks off the fall with the 2018 John Breaux Cajun Tennis Classic starting on September 21, 2018 and going over the weekend with the final on Sept. 23. Admission is free on all days to the public.

FOLLOWING THE RAGIN' CAJUNS: Follow the Cajuns on twitter (@RaginCajunsMT) for updates during the summer and any other information about the Louisiana student-athlete's performances throughout the summer.

- #GEAUXCAJUNS -

@RaginCajunsMT's Dolan Performs Well In AMT Platinum Series Tournament

Players Mentioned

Pearse Dolan

Footer

University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics