DENVER - The SMU and TCU men's tennis teams continued their quests to advance at the NCAA Championships being held in Athens, Ga., with quarterfinal victories yesterday afternoon. The final four stage has been set and those matches to be played this afternoon with a trip to the title match on the line.
For the first time since 1986 SMU will make an appearance in the final four. The seventh-seeded Mustangs rallied past second-seed UCLA, 4-3, to overcome an early 2-0 deficit. For only the fourth time this season, SMU lost the doubles point, but regained composure to win four singles victories. Senior Genius Chidzikwe, ranked sixth in the nation, started the comeback, downing 13th-ranked Jean-Julien Rojer in straight sets. Picking up the pace, junior Krystian Pfeiffer then became the first of three straight three-set winners for SMU with his 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 win at No. 3 singles, which tied the match at two apiece.
Jon Wallmark battled back after dropping the first set to Jean-Noel Grinda to put SMU ahead by one. Freshman Johan Brunstrom shouldered the weight of the team, taking the second set 7-5 and overcoming a six all split to win the third set 7-6, thus clinching the quarterfinal win over the Bruins in thrilling fashion.
It was the second time in the last three matches that SMU mounted a comeback to advance further into the NCAA tournament. Against Arkansas in the regional final, SMU rallied for an exciting 4-3 decision. With the win on Monday, SMU improves to 24-2 on the year, while UCLA dropped to 23-3. The Mustangs face host Georgia in a semifinal clash to begin at 2:00 p.m. EST.
Prior to the SMU-UCLA contest, fifth-seeded TCU avenged an earlier season loss to in-state rival Texas A&M, seeded fourth, blanking the Aggies 4-0 to advance to the Final Four for the third time in school history. TCU's previous Final Four berths came in 1989 and 1996.
The Frogs got off to a quick start, blitzing the Aggies in doubles with 8-4 and 8-3 victories at one and two doubles. Trace Fielding and Jimmy Haney's win at the one slot over 10th-ranked Dumitru Caradima and Shuon Madden was the second highest ranked opponent the pair have beaten this season.
In the singles, TCU sophomore Jimmy Haney won his 10th consecutive match with a straight set win over Tres Davis at the No. 6 slot to give the Frogs a 2-0 lead. Senior Scott Eddins, who has won both his matches at the championships so far, put the victory within grasp having won a straight set match over Keith From at the No. 3 position. It was senior Trace Fielding who sealed the victory at two singles, claiming with a 6-4 third set win over Ryan Newport. Fielding was up a break at 4-3 in the third, but Newport broke his serve to even the score. With a comeback of his own, Fielding served up two service aces in the 10th game en route to the win.
The Frogs next opponent will be eighth-seeded Tennessee, who upset No. 1 seeded Stanford 4-2 just moments after the Frogs' victory. The match will be played today at noon on the Henry Field Stadium Courts. TCU's last match against the Volunteers came in the 1988 NCAA Men's Tennis Championships with a 5-2 loss.
The two matches today, SMU vs. Georgia and TCU vs. Tennessee, can be followed on the web at the following address:
NCAA Championships page, will also feature live scoring.