INDIAN WELLS– No. 45 Sun Devil Men's Tennis (8-6) opened the UTR Collegiate Championships with an upset over No. 26 Princeton (16-5), after a 4-2 win on Saturday at Indian Wells Tennis Garden. Sophomore Bor Artnak had the second-highest upset of his career after defeating #33 Paul Inchauspe in straight sets en route to ASU's comeback win.
Graduate transfer Matic Dimic clinched the match for ASU, which was his fourth clinch in the team's eight wins this season and pushed ASU to the Championship match which takes place tomorrow, March 16 against Baylor.
After ending Princeton's seven-match winning streak, head coach Matt Hill praised his team's gritty performance, "The guys were up for the test and managed the big moments really, really well today. We've lost some close ones this year and by putting the team through the fire of a tough schedule allowed us to have resilience today and beat a really good team in Princeton."
ASU dropped the doubles point and fell into a deeper hole after a loss from the third position had the Sun Devils down 0-2. The Maroon & Gold showed their fight with three straight singles wins– led by Bor Artnak and Mathis Bondaz, who each picked up wins over ranked opponents– en route to a 3-2 ASU lead.
Finally, after a near-2.5 hour battle, Matic Dimic picked up a win in three sets, taking the third-set tiebreaker 7-5, to earn the win for ASU, 4-2.
Singles Competition:
Doubles Competition:
Up Next:
ASU will face No. 14 Baylor in the UTR College Championships Championship match on Sunday, March 16 at 9:30 a.m. MST.
Graduate transfer Matic Dimic clinched the match for ASU, which was his fourth clinch in the team's eight wins this season and pushed ASU to the Championship match which takes place tomorrow, March 16 against Baylor.
After ending Princeton's seven-match winning streak, head coach Matt Hill praised his team's gritty performance, "The guys were up for the test and managed the big moments really, really well today. We've lost some close ones this year and by putting the team through the fire of a tough schedule allowed us to have resilience today and beat a really good team in Princeton."
ASU dropped the doubles point and fell into a deeper hole after a loss from the third position had the Sun Devils down 0-2. The Maroon & Gold showed their fight with three straight singles wins– led by Bor Artnak and Mathis Bondaz, who each picked up wins over ranked opponents– en route to a 3-2 ASU lead.
Finally, after a near-2.5 hour battle, Matic Dimic picked up a win in three sets, taking the third-set tiebreaker 7-5, to earn the win for ASU, 4-2.
Singles Competition:
- #109 Bor Artnak (ASU) def. #33 Paul Inchauspe (PRIN) 7-6(5), 7-6(5)
- Mathis Bondaz (ASU) def. #59 Top Nidunjianzan (PRIN) 3-6, 6-4, 6-3
- Landon Ardila (PRIN) def. Nicola Cigna (ASU) 6-4, 6-4
- Constantinos Koshis (ASU) vs. Ellis Short (PRIN) 4-6, 6-6, unfinished
- Matic Dimic (ASU) def. Evan Wen (PRIN) 7-5, 1-6, 7-6(5)
- Roi Ginat (ASU) def. Aleksander Mitric (PRIN) 7-5, 6-2
Doubles Competition:
- #62 Filippos Astreinidis/Paul Inchauspe (PRIN) def. #34 Bor Artnak/Matic Dimic (ASU) 6-4
- Nicola Cigna/Constantinos Koshis (ASU) vs. Top Nidunjianzan/Ellis Short (PRIN) 4-5, unfinished
- Landon Ardila/Aleksander Mitric (PRIN) def. Mikey Anderson/Tanner Povey (ASU) 6-4
Up Next:
ASU will face No. 14 Baylor in the UTR College Championships Championship match on Sunday, March 16 at 9:30 a.m. MST.