Junior Chris Gentile became the first Cooperstown singles player to qualify for the State Tennis Championships after going 3-0 Thursday at the Section Three State Qualifiers at the Utica Parkway Courts.

Gentile won all three of his matches, 6-0, 6-0, to advance to the final at 3:30 p.m. today at Skytop Tennis Center in Syracuse.

"He smoked everybody," Cooperstown coach Dave Bertram said of second-seeded Gentile, who is competing against singles players from classes A, B and C. "It was unbelievable."

[an error occurred while processing this directive]Gentile automatically qualified for states by reaching the sectional final. The top three finishers earn bids to the state meet, which runs Thursday through Saturday at Flushing Meadow.

Teammates Anna Kieler and Quinn Snyder fell in their respective first-round matches Thursday.

Gentile will face third-seeded Esteban Holguin of Chittenango in today’s final. Holguin, who beat Kieler, 6-0, 6-0, in the first round, also knocked off the top seed from Fayetteville-Manlius en route to the sectional championship match.

Gentile shut out No. 4 Brian Rice of Westhill in a semifinal to advance. He also defeated Chittenango’s Mike Ojubeli in the first round and Mexico’s Kevin Smith in the quarterfinals.

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SECTION THREE STATE QUALIFIERS

3-Esteban Holguin (Chittenango) def. Anna Kieler (Cooperstown), 6-0, 6-0.

Tom DuFore (Oswego) def. Quinn Snyder (Cooperstown), 0-6, 6-4, 6-4.