April 25, 2008

OJAI, CALIF. - The USC men secured an all-Trojan Pac-10 singles semifinal event as all four USC men's tennis players entered in the Pac-10 Singles Championships cruised through their quarterfinal matches on Friday in Ojai, Calif. With three-set victories apiece on Friday, top-seeded Robert Farah and teammate Jaak Poldma earned the right to face off in one of Saturday's singles semifinals. In the other, USC senior Kaes Van't Hof will square off against sophomore Gary Sacks.

It was a winning day across the board for Farah and Van't Hof, who put in double duty after their singles victories by teaming up in the doubles action as the top-seeded pair. Farah/Van't Hof also worked their way into tomorrow's doubles semifinals with two decisive wins in doubles play. Farah/Van't Hof opened with an 8-1 win over Stanford's Hirschman/Wire and then took down Arizona dup Hazi/Metham 8-4 in the quarterfinals. Farah/Van't Hof will face Cal's fourth-seeded Chizever/Zerbini on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. in the doubles semis.

But Farah and Van't Hof's busy Saturday will begin with the mornings singles semis. Top-seeded sophomore Farah tacked up a 6-1, 4-6, 6-2 quarterfinal win over Cal's Pedro Zerbini to punch his ticket to the singles semi. Meanwhile, on the other side of the bracket, Van't Hof dealt out a 7-6 (5), 6-4 win over UCLA's Jeremy Drean to capture his place in the semis.

Van't Hof's opponent will be fellow Trojan Gary Sacks, who topped Stanford's Gregory Meister 6-3, 7-6 (6) in Friday's quarters to help secure an all-USC semifinal in the 9:30 a.m. match on Saturday. At 11 a.m. on Saturday, Farah will clash with USC freshman Jaak Poldma, who helped ensure USC's semifinal monopoly with a 5-7, 7-1, 6-2 upset of fifth-seeded Mathieu Dehaine of UCLA. All told, the Trojans took down three UCLA players in today's quarterfinals.

For full results, see below, or visit www.ojaitourney.org.

Pac-10 Singles Championship Matches
(1) Robert Farah
First round: def. Peter Zimmer (ARIZ) - 6-3, 6-4
Round of 16: def. Michael Look (UCLA) - 6-4, 3-6, 6-2
Quarterfinals: def. Pedro Zerbini (CAL) - 6-1, 4-6, 6-2
Semifinals: vs. Jaak Poldma (USC) - 11 a.m. Saturday

Jaak Poldma
First round: def. Pierre Mouillon (CAL) - 6-3, 6-1
Round of 16: def. (4) Claudio Christen (ARIZ) - 6-3, 6-4
Quarterfinals: def. (5) Mathieu Dehaine (UCLA) - 5-7, 6-1, 6-2
Semifinals: vs. (1) Robert Farah (USC) - 11 a.m. Saturday

Gary Sacks
First round: def. Jonathan Dahan (CAL) - 6-3, 6-3
Round of 16: def. Francisco Gallardo (ORE) - 7-6 (7), 6-4
Quarterfinals: def. Nicolas Meister (UCLA) - 6-3, 7-6 (6)
Semifinals: vs. (2) Kaes Van't Hof (USC) - 11 a.m. Saturday

(2) Kaes Van't Hof
First round: def. Geoff Embry (ORE) - 7-6, 6-4
Round of 16: def. Juan Carlos Rebaza (ASU) - 6-4, 6-3
Quarterfinals: def. Jeremy Drean (UCLA) - 7-6 (5), 6-4
Semifinals: vs. Gary Sacks (USC) - 11 a.m. Saturday

Pac-10 Singles Invitational Matches
(1) Abdullah Magdas
First round: def. Patrick Brogan (ASU) - 6-2, 6-1
Round of 16: def. Mikael Myrhed (ORE) - 6-3, 6-1
Quarterfinals: lost to David Chu (WASH) - 4-6, 7-6 (1), 1-1 def.

Jack Levis
First round: def. Nicolai Horgen (CAL) - 5-7, 6-2, 6-4
Round of 16: lost to David Chu (WASH) - 6-4, 6-4

Daniel Gliner
First round: def. Ravid Hazi (ARIZ) - 6-3, 6-3
Round of 16: def. Jeffrey Zeller (STAN) - 7-5, 6-3
Quarterfinals: lost to (4) Wes Miller (ASU) - 5-7, 6-1, 6-2

(3) Jason McNaughton
First round: lost to Tobi Obenaus (WASH) - 6-2, 7-6 (11)

Andrew Piotrowski
First round: def. John Nanosky (ASU) - 7-6 (3), 6-2
Round of 16: def. Ahmed Ismail (UCLA) - 4-6, 6-2, 6-2
Quarterfinals: lost to Bozhidar Katsarov (CAL) - 3-6, 7-6, 7-6

Pac-10 Doubles Championship Matches
(1) Farah/Van't Hof
Round of 16: def. Hirschman/Wire (STAN) - 8-1
Quarterfinals: def. Hazi/Metham (ARIZ) - 8-4
Semifinals: vs. (4) Chizever/Zerbini (CAL) - 3:30 p.m. Saturday

Poldma/Piotrowski
Round of 16: lost to (3) Meister/Srugo (UCLA) - 8-3

Pac-10 Doubles Invitational Matches
Gliner/Magdas
Round of 16: def. Gilbert/Horgen (CAL) - 9-7
Quarterfinals: def. (2) Miller/Nanosky (ASU) - w/o (admin)
Semifinals: vs. (4) Kildahl/Obenaus (WASH) - 2 p.m. Saturday