Thrillers Extend D-I Men's Quarterfinals Deep into Night; Kennedy Wins All-USA Semifinal at ITF J300 in Italy; Chang Makes Semifinals at Orlando W15

The drama was unrelenting in the NCAA Division I men's quarterfinal matches Friday, with No. 1 seed Wake Forest and No. 4 seed Stanford both somehow managing to make their way to a semifinal meeting Saturday after nearly eight hours of tennis. Wake Forest was forced to six third sets before posting a misleading 4-1 victory over No. 8 Columbia, while Stanford's Max Basing saved seven match points in the last match on to give the Cardinal a 4-3 win over No. 12 seed Mississippi State.

Wake Forest and Columbia kicked off the festivities in steamy Waco with a tight doubles point, the norm throughout the men's quarterfinals. After splitting the first two matches at lines 1 and 2, the Demon Deacons' Luca Pow and Luciano Tacch defeated Hugo Hashimoto and Jayden Templeman 7-6(5) to take the early lead.

Wake Forest looked as if a comfortable victory might be available to them when they took four first sets in singles, another theme of the men's quarterfinals. But Columbia fought back, with the score still 1-0 three hours after the match had begun. Very few prognosticators would have envisioned the match at line 1 being the first to finish, but it was Stefan Dostanic of Wake Forest avenging his loss to Michael Zheng earlier this season to give Wake a 2-0 lead. Luca Pow made it 3-0 shortly thereafter, taking a three-set win over Thanaphat Boosarawangse at line 6, but a minute later Columbia got on the board with Nicolas Kotzen beating DK Suresh at line 2 6-7(0), 6-2, 6-3. Columbia's Max Westphal was up 4-1 in his third set with Ioannis Xilas at line 3 and the No. 4 and No. 5 lines were at 1-1 and 3-3 respectively.  It was finally Wake freshman Charlie Robertson who gave his team some breathing room, taking a 3-1 lead in his third set over Hugo Hashimoto at line 4, and extending it to 4-1, while Westphal could not convert his match point at line 3. Robertson took the last five games of the match to close it out, sending Wake Forest into the semifinals for the second straight year. 

Wake Forest[1] d. Columbia[8] 4-1
Doubles:
1. DK Suresh and Ioannis Xilas(WAKE) d. Michael Zheng and Nicolas Kotzen(COL) 6-3
2. Max Westphal and Sachin Palta(COL) d. Stefan Dostanic and Charlie Robertson(WAKE) 6-3
3. Luca Pow and Luciano Tacchi(WAKE) d. Hugo Hashimoto and Jayden Templeman(COL) 7-6(5)

Order of finish: 1,2,3

Singles:
1. Stefan Dostanic(WAKE) d. Michael Zheng(COL) 2-6, 6-3, 6-4
2. Nicolas Kotzen(COL) d. DK Suresh(WAKE) 6-7(0), 6-2, 6-3
3. Max Westphal(COL) v Ioannis Xilas(WAKE) 3-6, 6-4, 5-2 unf.
4. Charlie Robertson(WAKE) d. Hugo Hashimoto(COL) 7-6(5), 3-6, 6-1
5. Luciano Tacchi(WAKE) v Sachin Palta(COL) 3-6, 6-3, 5-4, unf.
6. Luca Pow(WAKE) d. Thanaphat Boosarawangse(COL) 6-3, 4-6, 6-1

Order of finish: 1,6,2,4

When Stanford and Mississippi State took the court an hour later than their scheduled time, no one was expecting as much drama as the first quarterfinal. It wasn't as much; it was way more, although it unfolded in similar fashion.

Stanford took the doubles point, in a tiebreaker at line 2, after the teams had split lines 1 and 3, with Henry von der Schulenburg and Kyle Kang saving two match points at 5-4. 

Like Wake Forest, Stanford won four first sets in singles and looked poised for a relatively straightforward win, but Mississippi State's top two, Benito Sanchez Martinez and Petar Jovanovic, who had lost their first sets, began the Bulldogs' comeback. They forced third sets, leaving Stanford a point short after the Cardinal got straight-sets wins from Nicholas Godsick at line 5 and von der Schulenburg at line 4. 

Down 3-0, Mississippi State needed the remaining four matches, but had reason for optimism, with break leads in the third sets on all four. Stanford freshman Alexander Razeghi got his break back at line 6, and with no-ad, breaks are not that hard to come by, but Mississippi State kept theirs, frequently on deciding points. Jovanovic beat Kyle Kang 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 at line 2 to get the Bulldogs on the board, and Mario Martinez Serrano got a late break of Razeghi to make it 3-2.

Shortly after Martinez Serrano won, Mississippi State was up match points on the remaining two courts, with Stanford's Basing serving at 4-5, 0-40 against Niccolo Baroni, who had already had a match point with Basing serving at 2-5. While that was going on, Sanchez Martinez had match points on Samir Banerjee at 1 and he converted, making it 3-3. Basing saved all four match points for 5-all, failed to convert three break points with Baroni serving at 5-5, 15-40, then saved two more at 5-6, with two aggressive shots that forced errors from Baroni. 

The tiebreaker that would decide the semifinalist was 3-3, but Basing finally found a bit of space with a forehand volley forcing an error for 6-4. He sent a forehand a bit wide on his first match point, but converted the second to send the Cardinal to the semifinals for the first time since 2003.

Stanford[4] d. Mississippi State[12] 4-3

Doubles:

1. Petar Jovanovic and Benito Sanchez Martinez(MSU) d. Nicholas Godsick and Hudson Rivera(STAN) 6-3

2. Kyle Kang and Henry von der Schulenburg(STAN) d. Niccolo Baroni and Mario Martinez Serrano(MSU) 7-6(3)

3. Samir Banerjee and Alexander Razeghi(STAN) d. Dusan Milanovic and Michal Novansky(MSU) 6-4

Order of finish: 1,3,2

Singles:

1. Benito Sanchez Martinez(MSU) d. Samir Banerjee(STAN) 4-6, 6-4, 6-4

2. Petar Jovanovic(MSU) d. Kyle Kang(STAN) 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 

3. Max Basing(STAN) d, Niccolo Baroni(MSU) 3-6, 6-2, 7-6(5)

4. Henry von der Schulenburg(STAN) d. Dusan Milanovic(MSU) 6-4, 7-5

5. Nicholas Godsick(STAN) d. Bryan Hernandez Cortes(MSU) 6-3, 6-4

6. Mario Martinez Serrano(MSU) d. Alexander Razeghi(STAN) 6-4, 2-6, 6-4

Order of finish: 5,4,2,6,1,3

In the third quarterfinal, which finished after 10:00 p.m. Eastern, defending champion TCU kept the suspense going, with the No. 2 seeds defeating No. 7 seeds Virginia 4-3.

Like the first two men's quarterfinals, the doubles point was decided in a third set tiebreaker, with TCU's Cooper Woestendick and Jack Pinnington Jones taking No. 2 doubles after Virginia took line 3 and TCU line 1.

Unlike the first two quarterfinals, the singles sets were evenly split and four were decided in straight sets. At 3-2 TCU, Virginia was up a break in the third on the two remaining courts, and James Hopper tied the score with a quick 6-1 third set over TCU freshman Cooper Woestendick at line 4. 

But just as the Cavaliers pulled even, TCU's Duncan Chan, down 4-2 to Jangjun Kim at line 6, got the break back and that was the spark he needed. Elevating his game, Chan hit winner after winner, taking the last four games of the match for a 7-6(1), 1-6, 6-4 win that put TCU in the semifinals against the winner of the last quarterfinal of the night between No. 3 Texas and unseeded UCLA. 

TCU[2] d. Virginia[7] 4-3

Doubles:

1. Lui Maxted and Pedro Vives(TCU) d. Keegan Rice and James Happer(UVA) 6-4

2. Cooper Woestendick and Jack Pinnington Jones(TCU) d. Mans Dahlberg and Dylan Dietrich(UVA) 7-6(4)

3, Rafael Jodar and Roy Horovitz(UVA) d. Duncan Chan and Albert Pedrico(TCU) 6-4

Order of finish: 3,1,2

Singles:

1. Rafael Jodar(UVA) d. Jack Pinnington Jones(TCU) 6-4, 6-3

2. Dylan Dietrich(UVA) d. Pedro Vives(TCU) 6-3, 6-3

3. Lui Maxted(TCU) d. Keegan Rice(UVA) 6-4, 7-5

4. James Hopper(UVA) d. Cooper Woestendick(TCU) 6-3, 3-6, 6-1

5. Albert Pedrico(TCU) d. Mans Dahlberg(UVA) 6-3, 6-4

6. Duncan Chan(TCU) d. Jangjun Kim(UVA) 7-6(1), 1-6, 6-4

Order of finish: 2,1,5,3,4,6

After all the excitement of the first three men's quarterfinals, the last one, which finished after midnight Central time, was decidedly less compelling, with No. 3 seed Texas sweeping past unseeded UCLA 4-1.

UCLA, who was playing without their No. 4 singles player Alexander Hoogmartens, although he did play in doubles, pushed the Longhorns in doubles, which went to Texas in, what else but a third-set tiebreaker, this time on court 1. 

Texas won five first sets in singles and UCLA was not able to force any third sets until the very last minute on line 6, so the drama of the first three quaterfinals didn't come to fruition a fourth time.

Texas, into its fifth semifinal in the past six years, will now play TCU in a rematch of last year's 4-3 final, won, of course, by TCU. Sebastian Gorzny, who clinched for the Horned Frogs at line 5, is now playing No. 2 for Texas. TCU and Texas have played twice this year, splitting those two matches.

Texas[3] d. UCLA 4-1

Doubles:

1. Timo Legout and Lucas Brown(TEX) d. Alexander Hoogmartens and Giacomo Revelli(UCLA) 7-6(3)

2. Sebastian Gorzny and Jonah Braswell(TEX) d. Spencer Johnson and Aadarsh Tripathi(UCLA) 6-4

3. Gianluca Ballotta and Emon Van Loben Sels(UCLA) d. Pierre-Yves Bailly and Sebatian Eriksson(TEX) 7-5

Order of finish: 2,3,1

Singles:

1. Timo Legout(TEX) d. Rudy Quan(UCLA) 7-5, 6-2

2. Emon Van Loben Sels(UCLA) d. Sebastian Gorzny(TEX) 6-3, 7-6(2)

3. Pierre-Yves Bailly(TEX) d. Kaylan Bigun(UCLA) 6-4, 6-4

4. Sebastian Eriksson(TEX) d. Spencer Johnson(UCLA) 6-4, 6-4 

5. Jonah Braswell(TEX) v Aadarsh Tripathi(UCLA) 7-6(7), 2-1 unf.

6. Lucas Brown(TEX) v Giacomo Revelli(UCLA) 6-2, 5-7 unf.

Order of finish: 2,1,4,3

All four semifinals are Saturday, beginning with the women. Georgia[1] will face North Carolina[5] at 11 a.m. Eastern, followed by Michigan[3] and Texas A&M[2] at 2 p.m.

The men's semifinal between Wake Forest and Stanford is scheduled for 5 p.m. and the TCU-Texas match will follow at 8 p.m. Eastern.

Coverage will continue at ESPN+, with a different announcing crew.

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At the ITF J300 in Santa Croce Italy, No. 2 seed Jack Kennedy is through to Saturday's final after defeating fellow American Jack Satterfield 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 in today's semifinal. Kennedy will face unseeded Nikita Bilozertsev of Ukraine, who upset top seed Oskari Paldanius of Finland 3-6, 7-6(7), 6-1.

Kennedy and Keaton Hance won the doubles title today, with the No. 2 seeds beating top seeds Paldanius and Alan Wazny of Poland 6-0, 7-6(4) in the final.

At the USTA Pro Circuit W15 and M15 in Orlando, rain delayed the completion of the quarterfinals until late tonight, but 14-year-old wild card Lani Chang wasn't fazed by it, coming back to beat UCF rising sophomore Olivia Bergler of Poland 4-6, 6-4, 6-3. Chang, who is making her USTA Pro Circuit debut this week, will play 18-year-old UCLA recruit Mayu Crossley of Japan, the top seed. No. 3 seed Monika Ekstrand continued her winning streak, with last week's W35 Boca Raton champion beating 14-year-old qualifier Carol Shao 6-3, 6-1 to advance to the semifinals against No. 2 seed Francesca Pace of Italy.

Jagger Leach had a long wait to complete his quarterfinal match with UCF No. 1 Yassine Dlimi of Morocco and it was Dlimi who advanced with a 6-3, 6-7(3), 7-6(2). He will play North Carolina rising sophomore Chris Xu of Canada, a qualifier, after Xu defeated top seed Dan Martin(Dartmouth, Miami) 6-2, 6-0.