NCAA MEN’S TENNIS : USC’s Hansen Lets ASU’s Sargsian Get Away With Title

USC’s Brett Hansen lost the NCAA men’s singles final to Arizona State’s Sargis Sargsian, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, with an uncharacteristic display of sloppy tennis Sunday, but at least Hansen maintained a sense of humor.

Asked to say a few words to the crowd at the University of Georgia tennis complex, he said: “What can I say? . . . I think it’s time to go have a beer.”

Hansen, from Newport Beach, might feel like crying in his beer. It was the fourth time this season he had lost to Sargsian, the No. 1-ranked college player in the nation. But this time, Sargsian was ripe to be beaten.

Sargsian, a native of Armenia, double-faulted 14 times and had 25 unforced errors in the match but still managed to become the first Arizona State player to win an NCAA singles championship.

The sixth-seeded Hansen said: “I thought, for sure, this was my best chance to beat him.” But he got only 49% of his first serves in and had 33 unforced errors.

“He’s got the game that’s going to beat me because he keeps bunting the ball back and I keep trying to hit it back harder and harder,” added Hansen, who finished the season 37-9.

“The first set I played is how I should have played the whole match, which was basically hit the ball heavy and hard to his forehand. He started making some errors.”

But then Hansen began making errors of his own and couldn’t take advantage of Sargsian’s poor serves, losing the second set.

Hansen was broken twice early in the third set and managed only two points off his serve as Sargsian went up 5-1.

But he held his next serve, then fought off two match points and broke Sargsian’s serve. Hansen held serve again to cut Sargsian’s lead to 5-4.

“He got a little tight, I thought I was going to come back,” Hansen said.

But Hansen’s comeback stopped. He led, 0-30, when he whacked an easy forehand into the net. “If I’d made that, I think I would have won that game,” he said.

Instead, Sargsian rallied to win the game, set and match.