ROME, Ga. – Valdosta State junior Takeshi Taco battled back from a 6-1 opening set deficit, winning sets two and three, 6-2, 6-3, respectively, over No. 2-seed Ruben Fonga Friday afternoon in the quarterfinal round of the ITA Cup. 
 
Taco now will battle Flagler's Baptiste Mercier in the semifinal round Saturday at 9 a.m., while Barry's Adam Lynch will face Indianapolis' No. 3-seed Tom Zeuch in the other semifinal.  The winners will advance to Sunday's ITA Cup Championship match.
 
A native of Lima, Peru, Taco came out a bit sluggish in the opening set as Fonga, a Tiffin University (Ohio) student-athlete, took a 2-0 lead with an opening break, but Taco came back with a win in his second service game for a 2-1 deficit.  Fonga won the next four games for the first set. 
 
The momentum shifted drastically in the second set as both players won on serve at 1-1, before Taco took the upper hand, breaking Fonga at 40-40 for a 2-1 lead as Taco built the lead to 3-1.  Later in the set, Taco won another break for a 5-2 score and then served out the set for a 6-2 victory to level the match.
 
In the third set, Taco broke Fonga in the opening game and built a 2-0 lead, as he battled back from an 0-30 hole, leading 1-0 in the second game of the set.  Taco then took command of the set stretching the lead to 4-1, before settling for a 6-3 victory to win the match. 
 
Taco now is 7-1 on the season as he finished runner-up at the ITA Regional (5-1) back in September and now is 2-0 in the ITA Cup.  A win Saturday would put him in the final for the second-straight year of a Blazer in the ITA Cup Final as current senior Luca Mack finished runner-up in the championship match last year. 
 
Check back with vstateblazers.com for links to live stats and streaming of Saturday's match.