May 29, 2004

WACO, Texas - Benjamin Becker extended his run in the singles portion of the NCAA Men's Tennis Championsips in Tulsa, Okla., at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center on Saturday afternoon and advanced to the semifinals of the tournament.

Becker, ranked No. 15 and winner of nine consecutive singles matches, defeated Florida's Hamid Mirzadeh in a three-set match. Becker dropped the first set 4-6, but rebounded to win the last two, 6-4, 6-1. Becker will now take on Auburn's Gabor Zoltan Pelva, a straight sets winner over Chad Harris of Vanderbilt.

The final top eight seeded player fell in the tournament as Tulane's Michael Kogan defeated fifth-seeded Phillip King of Duke in three sets. Two remaining players, Becker and Kogan, are 9-16 seeds and Pelva and Babej are unseeded. Babej defeated Baylor's Benedikt Dorsch in the round of 64.

NCAA Singles Quarterfinals:
Gabor Zoltan Pelva, Auburn def. Chad Harris, Vanderbilt, 6-2, 6-1
Benjamin Becker (9-16), Baylor def. Hamid Mirzadeh (9-16), Florida, 4-6, 6-4, 6-1
Michael Kogan (9-16), Tulane def. Phillip King (5), Duke, 7-5, 3-6, 6-2
Franticek Babej, South Alabama def. Nicholas Monroe, North Carolina, 6-2, 6-4

NCAA Singles Semifinals - 2 p.m., Sunday, May 30
Zoltan Pelva vs. (9-16) Becker
(9-16) Kogan vs. Babej