The University of Mississippi Athletics
Freshman Advances In National Clay Courts
9/19/1999 | Men's Tennis
Sept. 19, 1999
BALTIMORE, Md. - Ole Miss men's tennis player Alexander Hartman advanced to the qualifying tournament at the T. Rowe Price National Clay Court Championships Sunday, with two victories at the Suburban Country Club.
Hartman, a freshman from Klippen, Sweden, defeated Alex Aybar of Arizona 6-4, 2-6, 6- 0 in the second round, and then held off Pablo Gras of Georgia State 7-6(5), 6-3 in the final round to advance to the qualifying tournament, which begins Tuesday. Eight players from the prequalifying made it to the qualifying tournament.
Sophomore Fredrik Mellin lost his second round match in a close contest to Texas Tech's Jevgeni Cariov. Mellin took the first set 6-4 but Cariov rallied to take the second and third 7-5, 6- 4 for the win.
Ole Miss will have two players in singles qualifying and one team in doubles. Hartman joins sophomore Kristofer Stahlberg in the singles, while Mellin will team up with Selin in the doubles. Junior James Shortall and sophomore Martin Selin are in the main draw singles, while Stahlberg and Shortall made the main draw doubles.
The National Clay Court Championships is the first leg of the collegiate grand slam of the year, consisting of 64 of the nation's top singles players and a 32-team doubles draw. The men's draw features 48 players who have gained automatic berths into the main draw and 16 players from the qualifying tournament.
