University of Washington
Pac-10 Championships
Third-Set Tiebreak Dooms Vlaski In Pac-10 Semis
April 24, 2004 | Men's Tennis
April 24, 2004
OJAI, Calif. - For the second time in his last three matches, UW junior Alex Vlaski had his Pac-10 Singles Championship title hopes come down to a third-set tiebreaker. However, unlike his second round triumph, Vlaski fell short in today's semifinal contest, losing 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 to USC's 31st-ranked Adriano Biasella. Vlaski, the nation's sixth-ranked player, failed in his bid to reach the Pac-10 Singles final for the third consecutive year after losing in the championship match the past two years.
Vlaski had beaten Biasella as recently as April 9, when he scored a 6-2, 6-4 win in Washington and USC's dual encounter. But Biasella served notice that things would not be so easy this time around, taking the first set 6-3. Vlaski reversed that score in his favor in the second set and pushed the decisive third set all the way to a tiebreak. In Vlaski's second-round match against another Trojan, Jamil Al-Agba, Vlaski battled all the way back from a 5-1 third-set deficit to force a tiebreak which he captured 7-2. Biasella earned revenge for USC however, taking today's tiebreak by an identical 7-2 count.
Washington also had a doubles duo competing in the Invitatinal Doubles Draw. The freshman pair of Chris Floyd and Michael Ricks were defeated 8-5 by Eric McKean and Chris Rasmussen from Stanford in a semifinal match.
Tomorrow's Pac-10 Singles final will pit Biasella against Stanford's Sam Warburg, who downed UCLA's Chris Lam in the other semifinal today.
Washington Men's Tennis
Pac-10 Championships
April 23, 2004 - Libbey Park - Ojai, Calif.
Pac-10 Singles Main Draw - Semifinals
(31) Adriano Biasella (USC) def. (6) Alex Vlaski (UW), 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (2)
Pac-10 Doubles Invitational Draw - Semifinals
McKean/Rasmussen (Stanford) def. Floyd/Ricks (UW), 8-5
