SAN DIEGO – Elon University men's tennis senior Veljko Krstic won a pair of matches Thursday to advance to the singles quarterfinals at ITA Conference Masters. The tournament is being played at the Barnes Tennis Center.
 
Krstic, the CAA's singles representative in the tournament, started his day with a 6-2, 6-1 opening-round victory against Longwood's Timeo Puech. Krstic broke serve in the sixth game of the match and then consolidated with a hold to go ahead, 5-2. He then broke in the next game to win the set before cruising through the second set.
 
In his second match of the day against Old Dominion's Zechariah Hamrouni, Krstic continued his steady play, breaking early in both sets on the way to a 6-3, 6-3 triumph.
 
The two wins advanced Krstic, the No. 7 seed in the draw, to the final eight. He will face top-seeded Michael Zheng from Columbia, the defending national champion in singles, tomorrow at 2 p.m. EST. Zheng is currently No. 180 in the ATP rankings and has won three ATP Challenger titles since August.
 
Krstic is up to 10 singles victories this fall, the first Elon player to hit double-digit wins on the campaign. He has now made quarterfinals or better at ITA Carolina Regionals and Conference Masters.
 
Krstic also teamed up with Nikola Parichkov in doubles. In their first-round match against the No. 8 seeded duo of Drew Evans and Tim Riedel from Western Michigan, Krstic and Parichkov fell, 4-6, 4-6. They will compete in the consolation draw tomorrow, taking on Juwan Bae and Yin Chih Lan of Alabama A&M at 5:30 p.m. EST.

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Results
Singles
Veljko Krstic (Elon) def. Timeo Puech (Longwood) 6-2, 6-1
Veljko Krstic (Elon) def. Zechariah Hamrouni (Old Dominion) 6-3, 6-3
 
Doubles
Drew Evans/Tim Riedel (Western Michigan) def. Veljko Krstic/Nikola Parichkov (Elon) 6-4, 6-4