(Photo credit: François Laplante, Freestyle Photography)

BELGRADE, Serbia - Graeme Kassautzki of Vancouver upset eighth-seeded Syrym Abdukhalikov of Kazakhstan 6-1, 6-2 Monday morning to reach the fourth round of the Summer Universiade men's singles tennis tournament.

Summer Universiade website: www.universiade-belgrade2009.org
Team Canada website: www.universitysport.ca/belgrade

Kassautzki, a University of New Mexico student, needed only 47 minutes to get past his higher-ranked rival, including a 15-minute opening set. The 22-year-old had 13 winners and as many unforced errors, while his opponent committed 27 unforced errors for only eight winners.

It marked the second dominating performance in two days for Kassautzki, who defeated Mensford Owusu of Ghana 6-0, 6-1 on Sunday after enjoying a bye in the first round.

The former member of Canada's Junior Davis Cup team will play his next match Wednesday against an opponent who will only be known tomorrow.

Kassautzki was also in action in mixed doubles Monday, but didn't have as much success. Teaming up with Taylor Ormond of Hamilton, he fell in the opening round to Aleksandar Grubin and Tijana Koprivica of host Serbia, 6-4 and 6-2.

Ormond also worded overtime on day four of the Universiade tennis tourney and advanced to the third stage of the women's singles with a 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 victory over Maria Rosa Sitja Gibert of Spain. The Baylor University student is in tough in her next match as she is set to face third-seeded Ksenia Lykina of Russia on Wednesday.

Also in women's singles, Stéphanie Roy of Montreal was stopped in the second round by No.13-ranked Kang Seo Kyung of South Korea, 6-1 and 6-4.

Finally, on the consolation side of the men's singles draw, Mikhail Lew of North York, Ont., defeated Marco Sanchez of Mexico 6-0, 7-5.

The Canadian tennis players enjoy a break Tuesday in Belgrade.

About the Summer Universiade

The Summer Universiade is an international multi-sport event that takes place every two years, and is second only to the Olympic Games in the number of participating athletes and countries. The Universiade is open to competitors between the ages of 17 and 28 in the year of the Games who are full-time students at a post-secondary institution (university, college, CEGEP) or have graduated from a post-secondary institution in the year preceding the event.

-CIS-