ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – University of New Mexico’s Rodolfo Jauregui and Shunji Hirooka will both compete in a singles championship match on the final day of the 2014 Balloon Fiesta Invite as they both tallied wins over their opponents in the semifinals round of their singles brackets on Saturday afternoon.
Jauregui defeated Northern Arizona’s Jordan Gobatie, 6-2, 6-4, in the Cherry Singles Draw. He will face New Mexico State’s Patrick Pfister in the championship match on Sunday. Hirooka took down NMSU Aggie Charles Baron in a three-set match, 6-2, 3-6, 6-0. The UNM redshirt freshman will battle NAU’s Felix Schumann for the Silver Singles Draw championship title, also on Sunday.
UNM’s Bryan Cunningham, also competing in the Cherry Singles Draw, was off to a solid start in his semifinals match against Schumann, but just as he was about to claim match point, he was forced to retire due to a back injury.
Senior James Hignett competed in the consolation draw on Saturday afternoon where he fell to NAU’s Alexandre Locci, 7-6, 6-4.
The Lobos struggled in doubles play on Saturday, losing all three matches they competed in. Hirooka and Cunningham dropped a tight 8-7 match to NMSU’s Germain Degardin and Baron. Hignett and Jauregui lost their quarterfinals match against Air Force’s Andrew Parks and Nicholas Carpenter, 8-7. The UNM duo fell in another close match to AFA’s Jack McCullers and Lucas Fumagalli in a consolation match, also 8-7.
The final day of the Balloon Fiesta Invite will resume at 9 a.m. MTN.