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TAMPA- Riding a wave of dominating doubles play mixed with solid singles work, the University of South Florida men's tennis team advanced to the semifinals of the 2009 BIG EAST Championship with a convincing, 4-1, victory over St. John's Friday afternoon at the USF Varsity Tennis Courts.  The win sets up a rematch of last year's final match against No. 2-seed Notre Dame at 9 a.m. on Saturday.

The afternoon started with doubles play and USF was simply dominant, sweeping all three matches.

After nursing a wrist injury the last three matches, junior Thomas Estrada returned to action to team up with sophomore Lucas Jovita.  The nation's No. 40 doubles pairing was back at full form from the beginning as they breezed past Asaf Honig and Milo Hauk with an 8-3 verdict.  

Clinching the point for the Bulls would be the freshmen Wael Kilani and Yannick Yoshizawa, who have continued their strong play with their fourth straight victory. The duo took care of Derek Wallensteen and Pavel Cerny, 8-4, to secure the 1-0 advantage.

Moments later the Bulls No. 2 doubles, senior Mahmoud Hamed and sophomore Jamal Adderley, added a third doubles victory for good measure with a 8-4 triumph over Martin Kosut and Gustavo Loza just moments after Kilani and Yoshizawa clinched the point.

With a 1-0 lead in hand, USF headed to singles action and it would be Jovita that kept the Bulls rolling, as the No. 90 singles player in the country proved to be too much as he steamrolled Honig, 6-1, 6-2. Jovita is 3-1 in BIG EAST Championship play during his USF career.

St. John's then cut the lead to 2-1 with a victory in the No. 4 singles, but USF responded when junior Arzhang Derkshani, making his USF dual-match singles debut, easily rolled to a decisive, 6-0, 6-4, victory over Jordan Talbot in the No. 6 slot.

Needing just one point to advance, it would be Hamed to put the match on ice for the third-seeded Bulls. As he has done so many times in 2009, the Cairo, Egypt native grinded out a 7-5, 7-5, victory over Milo Hauk to clinch the match and set up the rematch with Notre Dame.

With the win Hamed, improves to 4-1 in BIG EAST Championship singles matches during his career. A season ago, Hamed's three-set win against Louisville clinched a 4-3 win and landed the Bulls in the title match.

Last year, the Bulls fell in the Championship match to the Fighting Irish, 4-3. The Bulls will be seeking revenge from earlier this year as well as the Irish topped the Bulls, 6-1, in late March in South Bend.

Notre Dame is currently ranked No. 26 in the last Campbells/ITA Rankings with an 11-10 dual match record. Leading the Irish is Brett Helgeson in the No. 1 singles. Helgeson is 10-9 on the season and ranked No. 24 in the country.

With the win, the Bulls improve to 12-8 on the season and add another victory to their NCAA tournament resume.

No. 3 USF, 4 vs. No. 6 St. John's, 1

2009 BIG EAST Quarterfinal
April 17, 2009
USF Varsity Tennis Courts - Tampa, Fla. 

Doubles

1. No. 40 Jovita/Estrada (USF) def. Honig/Hauk (STJ), 8-3

2. Adderley/Hamed (USF) def. Kosut/Loza (STJ), 8-3*

3. Kilani/Yannick Yoshizawa (USF) def. Derek Wallensteen/Cerny (STJ), 8-4

Finish Order: 1, 3, 2 

Singles

1. No. 90 Lucas Jovita (USF) def. Asaf Honig (STJ), 6-2, 6-3

2. No. 117 Wael Kilani (USF) vs. Gustavo Loza (STJ), DNF (6-1, 4-6, 2-2)

3. Mahmoud Hamed (USF) def. Milo Hauk (STJ), 7-5, 7-5*

4. Pavel Cerny (STJ) def. Jamal Adderley (USF), 6-1, 6-2

5. Romain DeRidder (USF) vs. Martin Kosut (STJ), DNF (4-6, 6-3, 2-2)

6. Arzhang Derkshani (USF) def. Jordan Talbot (STJ), 6-0, 6-4
Finish Order: 1, 4, 6, 3