May 29, 2011
STANFORD, Calif.- Juniors Bradley Klahn and Ryan Thacher will play for a national doubles title on Monday afternoon at the 2011 NCAA Tennis Championships.
The nation's third-ranked doubles team, Klahn and Thacher grinded out a 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (4) victory over Florida's Sekou Bangoura Jr. and Alexandre Lacroix in the semifinals on Sunday.
Posting a three-set victory for the second day in a row, Klahn and Thacher improved to 43-7 overall. The last Cardinal duo to reach an NCAA Doubles final was Sam Warburg and KC Corkery, claiming the title with a 6-2, 6-7 (3), 6-4 victory over Georgia's Bo Hodge and John Isner seven years ago in Tulsa, Okla.
Stanford has produced 14 collegiate doubles champions in school history overall and four since the NCAA adopted its current format in 1977 (1992- Alex O'Brien, Chris Cocotos; 1998- Bob Bryan, Mike Bryan; 1999- Ryan Wolters, K.J. Hippensteel; 2004- KC Corkery, Sam Warburg).
Thacher and Klahn will face Texas A&M's Jeff Dadamo and Austin Krajicek, the nation's fourth-ranked tandem and No. 3 overall seed in the tournament. Dadamo and Krajicek have won both meetings against Klahn and Thacher this year, including a 9-8 (8) victory back on May 19 in the team portion of the tournament when Stanford edged Texas A&M 4-2.
First Round: No. 3 Bradley Klahn/Ryan Thacher d. No. 19 Brad Cox/Eric Quigley (Kentucky) 6-1, 7-6 (5)
Round of 16: No. 3 Bradley Klahn/Ryan Thacher d. No. 24 Clifford Marsland/Ashley Watling (Tulsa) 6-1, 7-6 (5)
Quarterfinals: No. 3 Bradley Klahn/Ryan Thacher d. No. 13 Vahid Mirzadeh/Connor Smith (Florida State) 6-7 (3), 6-4, 6-2
Semifinals: No. 3 Bradley Klahn/Ryan Thacher d. No. 17 Sekou Bangoura Jr./Alexandre Lacroix (Florida) 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (4)
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First Round: No. 9 Bradley Klahn d. No. 55 Jason Jung (Michigan) 7-6 (5), 6-2
First Round: No. 4 Blaz Rola (Ohio State) d. No. 46 Ryan Thacher 5-7, 6-3, 6-3
Second Round: No. 9 Bradley Klahn d. No. 17 Austin Krajicek (Texas A&M) 6-1, 6-4
Round of 16: No. 9 Bradley Klahn d. No. 22 Jose Hernandez (North Carolina) 6-3, 3-6, 6-4
Quarterfinals: No. 3 Rhyne Williams (Tennessee) d. No. 9 Bradley Klahn 6-4, 6-4