Top-Seeded Sargsian Will Play USC’s Hansen for NCAA Title

Top-seeded Saris Sargsian of Arizona State defeated unseeded Adam Peterson of USC, 6-2, 6-0, Saturday in the second of two all-Pacific 10 Conference semifinals at the NCAA men’s tennis tournament.

Sargsian will play sixth-seeded Brett Hansen of USC today.

Hansen rallied to beat Jeff Salzenstein of Stanford, 6-7 (8-6), 6-0, 6-3, after Salzenstein had beaten Hansen in two of three previous matches this season.

“I got used to his serve,” Hansen said. “Lefties are harder to return because of the spin. I broke him early, and he started letting up to get his serve in.”

Sargsian, 46-7 this season for the Sun Devils, has beaten Hansen, who is 37-8, in all three of their meetings this year.

“I didn’t expect today to be this easy,” Sargsian said. “I practiced this morning and felt tired. I was hoping for an easy match. I feel confident about tomorrow, but it’s going to be tough.”

Their match will be the first all-Pac-10 final since Stanford teammates Tim Mayotte and Jim Gurfein played in 1981. Saturday’s semifinals were the first since 1966 to involve only Pac-10 players.