MALIBU, Calif. – Finn Tearney and Hugh Clarke of the Pepperdine men’s tennis team advanced to the doubles semifinals of the USTA/ITA Div. I Men’s Southwest Regional today at the Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center. In addition, Tearney is one of the final four standing in the singles bracket.
Clarke (Brisbane, Australia/Brisbane Boys College) and Tearney (Wellington, New Zealand/Wellington College) got the day started with a dominating 8-0 win versus Hawaii’s Jonathan Brooklyn and Danilo Casanova. In the pair’s quarterfinal match, they faced Ivan Castro and Alex Hamilton. After trading the first few games, the Waves found their stride and cruised to an 8-4 win to advance to tomorrow’s semifinals.
There, they’ll tangle with the #6 seeded tandem of Francis Alcantara and Remi Boutillier of Fresno State.
Sebastian Fanselow (Essen, Germany/Kaplan College Prep) and Jenson Turner (Woodland Hill, Calif./Campbell Hall HS) got off to a shaky start in their first match of the day, falling behind 6-1 against Nikola Bubnic and Thibaut Visy of San Diego. The Waves found their rhythm, however, and pieced together a 5-0 run to knot the score a six games all. The Toreros held serve in the next game, followed by a break to edge Fanselow and Turner 8-6.
The singles quarterfinal featured Tearney and teammate Mousheg Hovhannisyan (North Hollywood, Calif./Continental HS). While Tearney entered the match as the higher seed, Hovhannisyan played strong and challenged his fellow Wave from start to finish. Tearney ultimately won a close two-setter, 6-4, 7-5.
Tomorrow’s semifinal match will pit Tearney, the #3 seed, against second seeded Ray Sarmiento.
Meanwhile, at the women’s regional in San Diego, Khunpak Issara (Bangkok, Thailand/World Study Centre) and Ale Granillo (Pachuca, Mexico/Instituto Hidalgo) were battling with UCLA’s Robin Anderson and Skylar Morton. The Waves suffered a close 8-6 loss to bow out of the bracket.
The men’s regional resumes tomorrow with the singles and doubles semifinals, as well as the consolation semifinals and final. Championship matches for the main draw are schedule for Monday. For complete results from the men’s regional, visit the Tournament Central.
USTA/ITA Div. I Men’s Southwest Regional – Day Three
Saturday, Oct. 22, 2011
Doubles – Round 3
Nikola Bubnic/Thibaut Visy - USD (9) def. Sebastian Fanselow/Jenson Turner - PEP (1), 8-6
Emilio Gomez/Raymond Sarmiento - USC (5) def. Daniel Moss/David Sofaer – Pepperdine, 8-2
Hugh Clarke/Finn Tearney - Pepperdine (2) def. Jonathan Brooklyn/Danilo Casanova - Hawaii (9), 8-0
Doubles – Quarterfinals
Hugh Clarke/Finn Tearney - Pepperdine (2) def. Ivan Castro/Alex Hamilton – Pacific, 8-4
Singles – Quarterfinals
Finn Tearney - PEP (3) def. Mousheg Hovhannisyan - PEP (10), 6-4, 7-5
Singles – Consolation Round 3
Frederik Gelbrich – SDSU def. Jenson Turner – Pepperdine (17), 1-6, 6-1 (10-8)
Zach Leslie - Fresno St. def. David Sofaer – Pepperdine, 6-4, 6-2
USTA/ITA Div. I Women’s Southwest Regional – Day Three
Saturday, Oct. 22, 2011
Doubles – Round 3
Robin Anderson/Skylar Morton – UCLA (10) def. Khunpak Issara/Ale Granillo – PEP (1), 8-6
