Sept. 30, 2013
TULSA, Okla. - Junior Thorsten Bertsch (Mannheim, Germany) and senior Hunter Nicholas (Park City, Utah) each earned a victory in his first round qualifying match of the ITA Saint Francis All-American Championships on Monday in Tulsa, Okla.
It is the first tournament of the fall season for the San Diego State men's tennis team which will host its Aztec Invitational starting Oct. 4 at Aztec Tennis Center.
Bertsch won in three sets over Arkansas' Mike Nott, 6-7 (3), 7-5, 6-3, in his first round match. The junior, dropped the first set, and fell behind, 3-5, in the second before rallying to win, 7-5. He then broke serve tied, 3-3, in the third set before eventually pulling away for the clinching victory, 6-3.
Meanwhile, Nicholas topped TCU's Arnau Dachs, 6-3, 6-3, in his first round qualifying match to begin his season on a high note. The Aztecs senior will face Duke's Bruno Semenzato in the second round on Tuesday, while Bertsch will take on Florent Diep of Florida.
Redshirt sophomore Freddy Gelbrich (Isernhagen, Germany) lost his prequalifying singles match to No. 31 Tin Ostojic of Wichita State, 6-2, 6-3, on Saturday, which was forced to be held indoors due to rain. He later fell in his prequalifying bonus match to LSU's Eric Perez, 6-4, 6-4, on Sunday.
San Diego State is coming off a Mountain West regular-season championship last dual season, as the Aztecs finished conference play with an undefeated 6-0 record.