Oct. 3, 2011
TULSA, Okla. - A trio of Baylor freshmen advanced to the second round of the qualifying draw of the ITA Men's All-American Championships at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center in Tulsa, Okla., by posting singles wins on Monday. Lars Behlen, Marko Krickovic and Mate Zsiga all moved on the tournament's second round.
Zsiga took the court first for the Bears and promptly disposed of Lawrence Formentera of Oklahoma, 6-2, 6-2. The Szeged, Hungary, native will face Auburn's Andreas Mies, a 17-32 seed, on Tuesday at 11:30 a.m.
Krickovic provided the most drama of the day for the Bears. He dropped his first set to New Mexico's Phil Anderson 6-3 but pulled it together and posted second- and third-set wins, 6-4, 6-2, to claim victory. Krickovic, a native of Ismaning, Germany, will also face a 17-32 seed when he takes on Yannick Maden of Clemson at 10:30 a.m.
Behlen, who hails from Munster, Germany, advance to the 128-player qualifying draw by claiming four victories in the pre-qualifying. Behlen defeated UCLA's Alex Brigham in straight sets, 6-2, 6-3, and will now face 9-16 seeded Damian Hume of Boise State at 10 a.m.
Players must win two more rounds to advance to the main draw.
Baylor will have at least one competitor in the singles main draw as 43rd-ranked Roberto Maytin earned one of 22 at-large selections into the 64-player field. The main draw will start on Thurs., Oct. 6.
The Bears have one doubles tandem competing. Maytin and Krickovic, ranked No. 23 nationally, were selected to the tournament's main draw. The duo won the doubles championship of the Baylor-HEB Invitational.
