The Arizona tennis teams competed in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association West Regional in the first day of competition yesterday.
The men’s tournament began yesterday and continues through Monday at Pepperdine in Malibu, Calif., while approximately 150 miles away, the women played at San Diego State in San Diego and continue through Sunday.
Christen advances in singles and doubles event
Holding the No. 9 seed in the tournament, junior Claudio Christen will continue to compete today after a straight-set victory yesterday over San Diego State’s Billy Timu, 6-4, 6-2
He continued his success with fellow junior Bruno Alcala in the doubles event, in which they shared the No. 3 seed, beating the ASU duo of T.J. Bellama and Juan Carlos Rebaza 8-5. The duo advanced to the round of 16 with the win and will play today.
Their teammates did not fare as well in the doubles draw, as the other pairs all lost in the first round.
Junior Jason Labrosse and sophomore Peter Zimmer lost to the No. 1 team of Omar Altmann and Andre Begemann of host Pepperdine, 8-2. Junior Francois VanderMerwe and redshirt freshman Alex Labrosse experienced a similar fate as they lost to the No. 2 seed from UCLA, Benjamin Kohlloeffel and Chris Surapol, 8-0.
In the singles draw, Zimmer defeated USC’s Jarryd Cooper 6-4, 6-4 in the first round but then fell to the No. 2 seed in the event, Surapol, 6-2, 6-1.
Labrosse lost to Philip Therp of UC Santa Barbara in straight sets, 6-2, 6-4, and Acala was defeated by the No. 4 seed of the event, Chris Groh, 6-4, 6-2. VanderMerwe also lost in the first in a battle against Matt Ozurovich of San Diego, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.
Women have busy day at regionals
The UA women’s team endured many highs and lows in their first day of competition in both the singles and doubles events.
Sophomore No. 29 Danielle Steinberg, who had the No. 5 seed in the event, was victorious for the Wildcats, as she earned a bye for the first round and then defeated Ashley Ellis of USC 6-2, 6-3 in the second round.
Senior Kasia Jakowlew also experienced early success when she came out strong in the first round against San Diego’s Alexandra Demidova, winning in straight sets 6-3, 6-1. Victory was short-lived as she fell in the second round to Alex McGoodwin of UCLA, 6-3, 6-2.
Also in the first round, junior Camelia Todorova defeated San Diego’s Zoe Taylor 6-2, 6-1, but she lost in the second round to San Diego State’s Alesya Vidov, 6-3, 6-0, to whom she fell in the SDSU Invitational three weeks ago.
Sophomore Tina Razloznik and freshmen Natalia Toporowska and Sydni Katz were all defeated in the first round yesterday.
In the doubles draw, Steinberg and Toporowska competed only in the first round as they lost to the USC duo of Ashley Ellis and Katja Decker-Sadowski, 9-7.
Jakowlew and Todorova had a bye in the first round, along with Razloznik and Katz.
Jakowlew and Todorova play San Diego State’s Eliska Krausova and Sisse Nielsen today, and Razloznik and Katz plays USC’s No. 5-ranked squad of Judy DeVera and Amanda Fink.
