Sept. 29, 2014
TULSA, Okla. - San Diego State men's tennis senior Thorsten Bertsch (Mannheim, Germany) split two matches on Monday in the first day of the 2014 Saint Francis Health System ITA All-American Championships singles qualifying draw at Case Tennis Center.
Bertsch, currently ranked 122nd in the nation, dropped his opening first-round match to Denver's Diogo Rocha, 6-2, 6-3, to begin the day, but bounced back to defeat 50th-ranked Ben Wagland of Georgia in three sets, 3-6, 7-6 (8), 6-2, in the consolation bracket.
The doubles qualifying bracket begins on Tuesday afternoon, as the Aztecs' duo of Bertsch and sophomore Marko Goles-Babic take on Nick Horton and Thomas Weigel of North Carolina State beginning at 3 p.m. CT. In addition, SDSU's team of junior Freddy Gelbrich (Isernhagen, Germany) and sophomore Hendrik Jebens (Stuttgart, Germany) will face Penn State's 43rd-ranked unit of Alex Fennell and Leonard Stakhovsky at 4 p.m. CT.