The University of Mississippi Athletics
Rebel Netters Advance in Qualifying at Clay Courts
6/21/1999 | Men's Tennis
Sept. 24, 1997
BALTIMORE, Md. -- Sebastien Lami and Vikrant Chada of the Ole Miss men's tennis team advanced to the second round of qualifying singles at the T. Rowe Price National Clay Court Championships Tuesday.
In the early matches of the day, Chada defeated Peter Dani of Arizona State 6-2, 7-6(3) to improve his record to 4-1 on the season. He will face 87th-ranked Gareth Williams of Tulsa in the second round Wednesday.
Lami, 58th-ranked, won the first set tiebreaker against Arizona's Jerome Oliveri 7-6(4), and then took the second set 6-4 to advance to the second round, where he will meet Southern Mississippi's Andreas Tiltscher.
Both Chada and Lami are bidding to make the 64-player singles main draw which begins on Thursday. If Chada and Lami advance tomorrow, they will join sophomore Martin Sjoqvist, who is already in the main draw.
In qualifying doubles, Chada and Barry Hassell dropped a hard-fought match to Arvid Swan and Brook Blain of Michigan 7-6(5), 6-3. The two made it into the qualifying round after winning two matches in the pre-qualifying round. Ole Miss will have a doubles team in the main draw with Sjoqvist and Lami.
The National Clay Court Championships is the opening leg of the 1997-98 Collegiate Grand Slam.
T. ROWE PRICE NATIONAL CLAY COURT CHAMPIONSHIPS -- Baltimore, Md. QUALIFYING ROUND
SINGLES -- First round -- Vikrant Chada (OM) def. Peter Dani (Ariz. St.) 6-2, 7-6(3); Sebastien Lami (OM) def. Jerome Oliveri (Ariz.) 7-6(4), 6-4. DOUBLES -- First round -- Arvid Swan/Brook Blain (Mich.) def. Chada/Barry Hassell (OM) 7-6(5), 6-3.
