Sept. 27, 2013
LAGUNA NIGUEL, Calif. - San Diego State men's tennis player Thorsten Bertsch (Mannheim, Germany) earned his first-career Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) point on Wednesday, after winning a main-draw match in the Laguna Niguel USTA Pro Futures.
Bertsch, a junior at SDSU, won four qualifying rounds to advance to the main draw, where he beat Masayoshi Ono, 3-6, 7-5, 6-0. Bertsch lost the first set, but rallied from an 0-3 deficit in the second set to break serve at 5-5, before eventually going on to win, 7-5. The Mannheim, Germany native got an early break in the third set and went on to earn a convincing victory over Ono, 6-0, to seal the match victory.
The victory is a major accomplishment for any tennis player, as Bertsch will have a world ranking next week. He later lost to former USC standout and No. 1 seed Daniel Nguyen, 6-1, 6-3, in the round of 16 on Thursday, where he could have earned two more ATP points with a win.
In addition, Bertsch and senior doubles partner Hunter Nicholas (Park City, Utah) played a main-draw wildcard in doubles action, where the duo beat Caryl Hernandez and Justin Agbayani in the first round, 7-6 (4), 6-4. Bertsch and Nicholas later lost in the quarterfinals by the No. 2 seed in a tight three-set battle, 3-6, 7-6 (4), 10-4.
Bertsch landed at No. 114 on the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) 2013 Division I Preseason Men's Singles Rankings on Sept. 6. He earned all-Mountain West honors in both singles and doubles play last season, finishing dual play with a 16-5 record. Bertsch was 3-2 against ranked opponents last year with a 14-2 mark in the No. 2 singles slot. He enters this season with 64 total career dual-match victories.
Nicholas will also have a big role with the Aztecs this season after earning all-MW honors in doubles play with Bertsch a season ago. Nicholas posted a 15-8 record in singles play during the dual season, including 14 victories in the No. 3 slot.
San Diego State begins its fall season on Saturday, Sept. 28, at the ITA Men's All-American Tournament in Tulsa, Okla., before hosting the Aztec Invitational Oct. 4-6 at Aztec Tennis Center. SDSU is coming off a Mountain West regular-season championship, as the Aztecs finished conference play with a 6-0 record.