Saturday, 10/29/2011

Sophomore claims this year's singles title at the ITA Southwest Regionals.

MALIBU, CALIF. -- USC's Ray Sarmiento topped off his tear through the ITA Southwest Regional Championships with yet another straight-set victory to claim the singles title for the Trojan sophomore today in Malibu. Up against an upset-minded Francis Alcantara of Fresno State, Sarmiento served up a solid 6-4, 6-3 win to become the first Trojan to win a regional singles title in over a decade.

The No. 2 seed in the tourney, Sarmiento never gave up more than four games in a set to anyone but No. 3 seeded Finn Tearney of host Pepperdine during the semifinals. In today's title match with Alcantara, Sarmiento was similarly dominant as he picked up his sixth consecutive straight-set win of the year to bring a long-awaited regional championship to Troy. No Trojan has won a singles title at the ITA regionals since Andrew Park went back-to-back in the 1999 and 2000 regional tournaments.

Complete USC results in Malibu are below:

ITA MEN'S SOUTHWEST REGIONALS (Malibu, Calif.)

SINGLES
First Round -- Oct. 20
[12] Yannick Hanfmann (USC) -- bye
Corey Smith (USC) def. Jeremy Quirox (FrSt) -- 6-4, 6-2
Jonny Wang (USC) def. Thorsen Bertsch (SDSU) -- 6-4, 6-4
[8] Emilio Gomez (USC) -- bye
Eric Johnson (USC) -- bye
[2] Ray Sarmiento (USC) -- bye

Round of 64 -- Oct. 20
[12] Yannick Hanfmann (USC) def. Mons Knudtzon (UCSB) -- 6-0, 6-3
[7] Nikola Bubnic (USD) Corey Smith (USC) -- 5-7, 6-1, 6-1
[15] Francis Alcantara (FrSt) def. Jonny Wang (USC) -- 6-0, 6-3
[8] Emilio Gomez (USC) def. Marco Comuzzo (CP) -- 6-3, 6-3
Eric Johnson (USC) def. vs. Shuhei Shibahara (UCI) -- 6-3, 6-0
[2] Ray Sarmiento (USC) def. Jordan Bridge (CP) -- 6-0, 6-3

Round of 32 -- Oct. 21
[12] Yannick Hanfmann (USC) def. [17] Fabian Matthews (UCI) -- 4-6, 7-5, 6-4
[8] Emilio Gomez (USC) def. Warren Hardie (UCLA) -- 7-6, 6-1
Eric Johnson (USC) def. [17] Mathieu Forget (UCSB) -- 6-4, 6-4
[2] Ray Sarmiento (USC) def. Jacob Jung (UCI) -- 6-1, 6-2

Round of 16 -- Oct. 21
[12] Yannick Hanfmann (USC) def. [1] Sebastian Fanselow (PEP) -- 6-4, 6-4
[10] Mousheg Hovhannisyan (PEP) def. [8] Emilio Gomez (USC) -- 6-3, 6-2
[9] Clarke Spinosa (USD) def. Eric Johnson (USC) -- 6-1, 5-7, 6-3
[2] Ray Sarmiento (USC) def. [17] Hugh Clarke (PEP) -- 6-4, 6-4

Quarterfinals -- Oct. 22
[12] Yannick Hanfmann (USC) def. [6] Nikola Bubnic (USD) -- 6-4, 6-4
[2] Ray Sarmiento (USC) def. [9] Clarke Spinosa (USD) -- 6-2, 6-3

Semifinals -- Oct. 23
[15] Francis Alcantara (FrSt) def. [12] Yannick Hanfmann (USC) -- 6-3, 6-3
[2] Ray Sarmiento (USC) def. [3] Finn Tearney (PEP) -- 7-5, 6-1

Championship -- Oct. 24
[2] Ray Sarmiento (USC) def. [15] Francis Alcantara (FrSt) -- 6-4, 6-3

DOUBLES
Round of 64 -- Oct. 20
[3] Hanfmann/Nguyen (USC) -- bye
[5] Gomez/Sarmiento (USC) -- bye
E. Johnson/Wang (USC) def. Goncalves/Mirkin (PAC) -- 8-2

Round of 32 -- Oct. 21
[3] Hanfmann/Nguyen (USC) def. Gelbrich/Nicholas (SDSU) -- 8-4
[5] Gomez/Sarmiento (USC) def. Leslie/Papac (FrSt) -- 8-4
[9] Cheung/Matthews (UCI) def. E. Johnson/Wang (USC) -- 8-4

Round of 16 -- Oct. 22
[3] Hanfmann/Nguyen (USC) def. [9] Hardie/Thompson (UCLA) -- 8-2
[5] Gomez/Sarmiento (USC) def. Moss/Sofaer (PEP) -- 8-2

Quarterfinals -- Oct. 22
[6] Alcantara/Boutillier (FrSt) def. [3] Hanfmann/Nguyen -- 8-3
[9] Bubnic/Visy (USD) def. [5] Gomez/Sarmiento (USC) -- 8-3