April 23, 2009

OJAI, Calif. -- Day one of the 2009 Pac-10 Tennis Championships is in the books, despite a late start due to heavey fog and mist. USC's Robert Farah and Stanford's Hilary Barte, the highest-ranked men's and women's singles players in the Pac-10, won both of their matches in straight sets to advance to the quarterfinals of the individual championships, taking place in Ojai, Calif.

On the men's side, Pac-10 team champion UCLA sends two players into the third round of championship singles action. Junior Matt Brooklyn faced tough competition in the first two rounds. The Hillingdon, England, native defeated California's Bozhidar Katsarov 6-1, 3-6, 6-2. It wouldn't get any easier for Brooklyn in the second round as he and Arizona's Jay Goldman played three sets that lasted more than three hours. Brooklyn came out on top, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 in the intense match-up. Senior Michael Look is the other Bruin to find his way into the quarterfinals, as he is playing in his final Pac-10 Championships.

USC and Stanford also send two players each into the quarterfinals. Along with Farah, the Trojans are represented by freshman Steve Johnson. The Orange, Calif., native took out Washington's Ryo Sekiguchi, 6-2, 6-4, before getting past UCLA's Ahmed Ismail, 6-1, 6-4. The Cardinal find two young players in the final eight. Freshman Bradley Klahn picked up wins over Amit Inbar of UCLA (6-3, 6-2) and Abdullah Magdas of USC (6-4, 6-3). Sophomore Alex Clayton pulled out two tough straight set wins, first over Oregon's Jose Izquierdo, 6-4, 7-6 (3). Then, in the final match of the day, Clayton earned the win over USC's Matt Kecki, 7-5, 7-5.

Friday's singles match-ups include Farah (USC) versus Look (UCLA), Brooklyn (UCLA) taking on Klahn (Stanford), Pedro Zerbini (California) versus Johnson (USC) and Andres Carrasco (Arizona) will face Clayton.

On the women's side, Stanford dominated the first two rounds, sending three players on to the next day. Barte will face teammate Veronica Li in the quarterfinals. Li defeated Arizona's Sarah Landsman, 6-3, 5-7, 6-4, and USC's Alison Ramos, 6-1, 7-5 to earn the match-up with her top-seeded teammate. Senior Jessica Nguyen also played her way into the next round for the Cardinal. In the first round, the Chatsworth, Calif., native topped Cal's Mari Andersson, 6-2, 6-3. In round two, she defeated Arizona State's Laila Abdala in three sets, 6-7, 7-6, 6-3.

Last year's runner-up, USC's Amanda Fink is also still alive in the championship draw. The senior defeated UCLA's Andrea Remynse and Wshington's Denise Dy to make another attempt at an individual championship. California also represented itself well, as senior Bojana Bobusic and sophomore Marina Cossou remain in the draw. The last two players in the final eight are UCLA junior Yasmin Schnack and Arizona freshman Natasha Marks, who upset eighth-ranked Kelcy McKenna of Arizona State in the first round.

The women's match-ups set to be played Friday at the Ojai Valley Athletic Club are Barte (Stanfod) versus Li (Stanford), Fink (USC) facing Nguyen (Stanford), Cossou (California) versus Schnack (UCLA) and Bobusic (California) taking on Marks (Arizona).

Friday also marks the begining of the doubles championships, as 16 men's teams and 16 women's teams battle it out for the right to play for the title. Both the singles and doubles champions will be decided on Sunday, Apr. 26.