Oct. 22, 2012
IRVINE, Calif. - San Diego State men's tennis' Andranik Khachatryan just fell short of advancing to the finals of the consolation bracket as the Aztecs wrapped up play at the USTA/ITA West Regional Tennis Championships at Anteater Tennis Stadium on the campus of UC Irvine.
Khachatryan's journey to the consolation semifinals began with a tough 6-3, 6-4 setback to Arizona's Kieren Thompson in the main singles draw. The Burbank, Calif., native then moved into the consolation bracket and looked unstoppable as he put together three straight wins.
Khachatryan opened play with a hard fought 6-7, 6-4, 10-6 victory against Carter Lam of Hawai'i on Saturday and then picked up consecutive wins on Sunday. The first of which came against Cal Poly's Devin Barber by the score 6-1, 6-4, followed by a huge 3-6, 6-4, 10-8 victory over USC's top freshman recruit Max de Vroome, who advanced to the final four of the 2012 Junior French Open. Khachatryan then faced off with Cal Poly's Marco Comuzzo in the semis on Monday, but suffered a 6-3, 6-3 setback.
SDSU also had a great showing from Thorsten Bertsch as he advanced to the quarterfinals of the singles main draw. The Mannheim, Germany, native opened play against LMU's Nick Northcott and cruised to a 6-1, 6-1 victory on Friday. Bertsch then followed that up on Saturday with a 6-1, 6-2 victory against Jurgen DeJager of Cal Poly. He wasn't done yet though, as he earned a 6-0, 6-2 victory against reigning Big West Freshman of the Year Jacob Jung (UC Irvine). Bertsch then battled with USD's Eric Johnson and just fell short of advancing to the semifinals.
On the weekend, the Aztecs picked up nine total wins and had all eight players competing earn at least one victory in either doubles or singles at the West Regionals.