Montilla and Haddock move on

The sun was shining as fans settled in, and by 5:00 p.m. tennis was on the menu in Puerto Rico.

Top seeded player Gabriel Montilla (photo) squared off against tenth seed Edgardo Rivera in what promised to be a great match. Even though Montilla did not have his "A" game, it was still enough to beat Rivera in straight sets.

The match was all tied at 3 in the first set when Montilla finally broke Rivera to go up 4-3. In that game Montilla went up 15-40 and then Rivera bounced back to tie the game at deuce. After a couple of deuces, Montilla put the game away for good. He then cruised in the second set to win by a final score of 6-3, 6-1.

Second seed and defending champion Luis Haddock won in straight sets against unseeded Micael Lopez. Lopez, who was clearly the crowd favorite, played a courageous game, but did not prove to be much of a match against Haddock who won 6-1, 6-1.

Nicolas Lopez, Micael's brother and third seed, easily disposed of Tito Rentas. Lopez will join Haddock this year at Notre Dame.

In the first major upset of the tournament, eleventh seed Gilberto Alvarez beat fifth seed and 1998 champion Juan Fernandez 6-2, 6-2. Also victorious were Jorge Rangel over Angel Diaz, Jose Mendez over Tommy Mora and Juan Vazquez over Carlos Nieves.

In the most exciting match of the tournament, fourth seed Luigi Valcarcel and twelfth seed Julio Omar Rivera dueled for three sets and Valcarcel emerged as the winner by a score of 6-2, 6-7, 6-3. Valcarcel, who won the first set easily and was cruising in the second set, saw it all change when Rivera seemed to catch a new wind and came back to win the second set in an exciting tie breaker. Valcarcel then escaped the match playing a more intelligent final set.

In the quarterfinals, Montilla will face Rangel, N. Lopez will face Gilberto Alvarez, Jose Mendez will face Valcarcel and Vazquez will see action against Haddock.