Cowboys Advance at ITA Championships
TULSA, Okla. – The Oklahoma State men’s tennis team wrapped up the qualifying stages of the 2010 D’Novo/ITA All-American Championships Wednesday, as freshman Rifat Biktyakov and junior Aleksey Bessonov advanced to the main draw doubles bracket after knocking off three talented teams in the qualifying stage.
“They played great,” coach James Wadley said. “They beat the No. 1 guys from Texas A&M, Texas and Baylor. We got a chance to see some of the best players from the Big 12 and we had a freshman and a junior beat them all.”
The Cowboy tandem defeated Texas’ Jean Andersen and Ed Corrie, 8-6, as well as Baylor’s Roberto Maytin and John Peers, 8-5, in the first two rounds Tuesday to advance to Wednesday’s third round, where they easily handled Niall Angus and Alexey Grigorov of Texas A&M, 8-3, to advance to Thursday’s main draw doubles opening round.
Ilija Martinoski and Eric West also competed for OSU in the qualifying doubles bracket. The duo knocked off BYU’s Spencer Smith and Evan Urbina, 9-7, in the opening round, but was eliminated by Tulsa’s Clifford Marsland and Ashley Watling, 8-1, in the second round.
In singles play, Oklahoma State won several matches in the pre-qualifying and qualifying stages of the event, but no OSU athlete advanced to the main draw.
Biktyakov won his first round match of the qualifying stage, but was eliminated in the second round by Radford’s Ivan Salec in three sets. Martinoski also competed in qualifying singles play, falling to San Diego’s Nikola Bubnic in the opening round.
Bessonov, West and Brandon Champagne competed in the pre-qualifying singles bracket, as West advanced to the third round before losing to Georgia Tech’s Dusan Miljevic in three sets, Bessonov fell in the second round to Virginia’s Philippe Oudshoorn and Champagne dropped his first-round match to Texas A&M’s Beau Blackshear.
The Cowboys continue play at the 2010 D’Novo/ITA All-American Championships Thursday, as Biktyakov and Bessonov open play in the first round of the main draw doubles bracket.
2010 D’Novo/ITA All-American Championships OSU Results
Pre-Qualifying Singles
First Round (Oct. 2)
Beau Blackshear (Texas A&M) def. Brandon Champagne (OSU), 2-6, 6-4, 6-2
Eric West (OSU) def. Jake Asplund (Utah State), 6-2, 6-1
Aleksey Bessonov (OSU) BYE
Second Round (Oct. 2)
Eric West (OSU) def. Josh MacTaggart (Indiana), 6-4, 7-5
Philippe Oudshoorn (Virginia) def. Aleksey Bessonov (OSU), 6-2, 6-4
Third Round (Oct. 3)
Dusan Miljevic (Georgia Tech) def. Eric West (OSU), 3-6, 6-3, 6-2
Qualifying Singles
First Round (Oct. 4)
Rifat Biktyakov (OSU) def. Cesare Gallo (Stetson), 6-4, 6-3
Nikola Bubnic (San Diego) def. Ilija Martinoski (OSU), 6-1, 6-1
Second Round (Oct. 5)
Ivan Salec (Radford) def. Rifat Biktyakov (OSU), 2-6, 6-2, 6-3
Qualifying Doubles
First Round (Oct. 5)
Ilija Martinoski/Eric West (OSU) def. Spencer Smith/Evan Urbina (BYU), 9-7
Aleksey Bessonov/Rifat Biktyakov (OSU) def. Jean Andersen/Ed Corrie (Texas), 8-6
Second Round (Oct. 5)
Clifford Marsland/Ashley Watling (Tulsa) def. Ilija Martinoski/Eric West (OSU), 8-1
Aleksey Bessonov/Rifat Biktyakov (OSU) def. Roberto Maytin/John Peers (Baylor), 8-5
Third Round (Oct. 6)
Aleksey Bessonov/Rifat Biktyakov (OSU) def. Niall Angus/Alexey Grigorov (Texas A&M), 8-3
Updated 10-06-2010
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