Stanford's Warburg Upset in First Round at NCAAs

©Colette Lewis 2005--
College Station TX--


The nation's top-ranked Division 1 player, Sam Warburg of Stanford, succumbed to the brutal heat and Old Dominion's Izak van der Merwe 5-7, 6-3, 6-1 in Wednesday's first round of individual competition at Texas A & M.

"Anybody can beat anybody; I wasn't really worried about playing the number two seed," said the 37th ranked senior from South Africa. "It's not junior tennis where you look at the seeds; here if you play well, you have a good chance of winning the match."

Van der Merwe was a semifinalist at the ITA Indoor individual championships in November, so Warburg knew he faced a tough battle. "Everyone's good," said Warburg, the PAC 10 singles champion and the tournament's second seed. "That's why it's the NCAA tournament." Asked how he felt having played his last college singles match, Warburg was blunt. "Not good. It's always kind of a bummer going out like that. But the guy was too good today."

With temperatures in the mid-90s and very little breeze, the strength-sapping conditions took their toll on several PAC 10 players. Eighth seed Alex Vlaski from the University of Washington lost to unseeded Greg Ouellette, the 49th ranked Florida freshman who overcame a 5-1 first set deficit on his way to a 7-5, 0-6, 6-2 victory.

Warburg's doubles partner, K.C. Corkery, ranked 15th, also failed to advance, losing to 38th ranked Gabor Zoltan of Auburn 7-6 (6), 6-3.

"When I saw the draw, I knew both of our guys had tough matches," said Stanford head coach John Whitlinger. "I was hoping we could get through that first day. Sam gave it everything he had. He's had a great four years at Stanford, and I'm proud of what he's accomplished. Unfortunately he came up on the short end today."