May 28, 2006
NCAA Men's Singles & Doubles Championship
May 28, 2006 * Stanford, CA
Semifinals
The 2006 NCAA men's singles finals will pit Benjamin Kohlloeffel, UCLA, the No. 1 seed in the tournament, against Somdev Devvarman of Virginia at noon at the Taube Tennis Center.m ... Kohlloeffel, a junior from Herne, Germany, today beat Erling Tveit in the semifinals, 6-3, 6-1 ... It was the first time the two had ever played ... Tveit, who beat three top-20 players en route to the semifinals, entered the tournament as an unseeded player ... Kohlloeffel became first Bruin since Justin Gimelstob in 1996 to reach No. 1 in Fila Rankings ... Has been No. 1 since April 4 ... He is looking to become first UCLA player since his coach Billy Martin in 1975 to win NCAA singles title ... The last Bruin to reach final was Jason Netter in 1991 ... All told, UCLA has had nine NCAA singles champs ... Kohlloeffel is now 46-4 this season ... He avenged two of his four losses against Cal's Conor Niland in QF and he has won 26 of last 27 ... He won the ITA National Indoor Championships in November... He was the 2005 ITA National Rookie of the Year ... Reached '05 NCAA QF ... Devvarman beat hometown favorite KC Corkery in the other semifinal match, 6-4, 5-7, 6-3 to earn the right to face Kohlloeffel ... Devvarman, a sophomore from Chennia, India, is No. 14 in the latest ITA rankings with an overall record of 31-12 ... He joins Brian Vahaly as UVA's two NCAA singles semifinalists ... Vahaly reached 2001 final (lost to Georgia's Matias Boeker) ... Devvarman is also first player from ACC to reach SF since 2001 and is looking to become first from ACC to win title ... German players have won last three NCAA singles titles ... First international player to win NCAAs was an Australian, Penn's Edward B. Dewhurst, in 1905 ... Last No. 1 seed to win NCAA singles crown was Baylor's Benedikt Dorsch just last season.
In doubles, Illinois' Kevin Anderson and Ryan Rowe will play Andre Begemann and Scott Doerner of Pepperdine in a matchup of the No. 2 and No. 3 seeded teams ... Anderson and Rowe, seed third, are looking to become third UI duo to win NCAA doubles title ... This is the first Illinois doubles team to reach semifinals since 2003 champs Rajeev Ram and Brian Wilson ... Begemann and Doerner helped lead Pepperdine to team title on Tuesday ... Begemann won clinching match in singles ... the duo won clinching match in doubles ... They are 31-5 in doubles this season ... Pepperdine has had two doubles champions - Kelly Jones and Jerome Jones in 1984 and Kelly Jones and Carlos DiLaura in 1985 ... Last Waves to reach final was Robert Lindstedt and Kelly Gullett in 1998 (lost to Stanford's Mike and Bob Bryan).