COLLEGE TENNIS / NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS : USC, UCLA Open With Impressive Victories

Top-seeded USC and No. 2 UCLA each had victories in their opening matches Saturday in the NCAA men’s tennis championships at Athens, Ga.

The Trojans defeated North Carolina, 5-2, and the Bruins topped Texas Christian, 5-1, in second-round matches. USC and UCLA both had first-round byes.

The Trojans’ top two singles players--Brian MacPhie and David Ekerot--both lost, but Wayne Black, Jon Leach, Andras Lanyi and Adam Peterson gave the Trojans a 4-2 lead heading into doubles. Leach and MacPhie teamed for a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Roland Thornqvist and Daryl Wyatt to clinch the match.

The victory puts the Trojans into today’s quarterfinals against Notre Dame, a 5-3 winner over Mississippi State. USC (19-2) defeated the Fighting Irish, 7-0, Feb. 19 in the National Indoor Team Tournament. Notre Dame (18-8) upset the Trojans, 5-1, in last year’s NCAA semifinals.

UCLA Coach Glenn Bassett, who will retire after this tournament, saw his career record improve to 591-91 with the victory. The Bruins today face Alabama, a 5-4 winner over Alabama Birmingham.

Sebastien LeBlanc, Robert Janecek, Jason Sher, Davide Sanguinetti and Matt Quinlan got singles victories for the Bruins, who improved to 23-2.

In other matches, Stanford defeated Colorado, 6-0, and Georgia eliminated Florida, 5-0.

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Top-seeded and defending champion Florida was upset by Texas, 5-4, in a semifinal match of the NCAA women’s championships at Gainesville, Fla.

The fifth-seeded Longhorns (24-4) will face No. 2 Stanford, a 5-1 winner over Arizona, in today’s final.

Texas defeated Stanford, 5-3, in last year’s semifinals, ending the Cardinal’s streak at six championships.