Smbatayan Concedes Match but Advances

Ashot Smbatayan of Glendale College suffered a cramp in his right knee during the second set of a singles quarterfinal match in the Southern California regional junior college tennis championships in Santa Barbara on Friday and conceded to second-seeded Henning Wold of Desert, 7-5, 3-3, retired.

Because he reached the quarterfinals, the sixth-seeded Smbatayan will still advance to the state championships in Rancho Bernardo beginning Thursday. The top eight advance to the state championships.

In the round of 16, third-seeded Ken Baker of Grossmont defeated unseeded Kasper Nielsen of Pierce, 6-3, 6-4. Eighth-seeded Thomas Eek of Desert defeated Johnson Chen of Pierce, 6-4, 6-0.

Smbatayan defeated David Ramirez of MiraCosta, 4-6, 6-2, 6-1, to advance to the quarterfinals.

The Pierce doubles team of Nielsen and Vanja Nadali advanced to the quarterfinals but lost in three sets. They also qualified for the state tournament.