SEATTLE – Senior Tom Fawcett has proven to be clutch many times before and the Cardinal captain came through again, providing the clincher as No. 5 Stanford upended No. 4 Georgia, 4-2, Saturday afternoon. With the win, Stanford advanced to the semifinals of the ITA National Indoor Championships at Washington's Nordstrom Tennis Center.
Stanford, which is off to its best start in 18 years at 8-0 in dual play, will face No. 1 Wake Forest (7-0) in the semifinals on Sunday at 3:30 p.m. PT.
The Cardinal made it a perfect 8-0 in capturing the doubles point this season. The No. 32 ranked team of Fawcett and Axel Geller remained undefeated on the season at 7-0 with a 6-3 win at No. 2. Timothy Sah and David Wilczynski earned a 6-3 win at No. 3 as Stanford took the early lead.
The Bulldogs, who feature five top-50 players in their singles lineup, quickly evened it up as No. 14 Walker Duncan posted a 6-3, 6-3 win at No. 5.
Moments later, William Genesen put the Cardinal back ahead with a 7-5, 6-3 win at No. 6.
Stanford continued to inch closer to the decisive fourth point as Geller improved to 8-0 in dual play with a straight set win over No. 31 Emil Reinberg.
The Bulldogs got another point with a win at No. 4 to make it 3-2 and it would come down to Sameer Kumar at No. 3 and Fawcett at No. 1. Each Cardinal traded sets with his opponent, pushing the match to a decisive third set.
Fawcett, who earned the first set win on a tiebreaker in his match against No. 8 Robert Loeb, came through with the clincher for the Cardinal with a 6-3 win in the third set to give Stanford the match.
For Fawcett, the two-time Pac-12 Player of the Week this season, it was his second clincher in three matches.
The focus is now on Wake Forest, as the Demon Deacons will be Stanford's fifth top-10 opponent in six matches. Sunday marks the Cardinal's seventh consecutive match against a top-25 opponent overall. Prior to Sunday, Stanford and Wake Forest have met just once, when the Demon Deacons earned a 4-0 victory in the NCAA Tournament Round of 16 last season in Athens, Georgia.
No. 5 Stanford 4, No. 4 Georgia 2
DOUBLES
1) No. 55 Michael Genender/Sameer Kumar (STAN) vs. No. 8 Robert Loeb/Jan Zielinski (UGA) 3-4 (unf.)
2) No. 32 Tom Fawcett/Axel Geller (STAN) d. Wayne Montgomery/Walker Duncan (UGA) 6-3
3) Timothy Sah/David Wilczynski (STAN) d. Alex Diaz/Paul Oosterbaan (UGA) 6-3
Order of finish: 2,3,-
SINGLES
1) No. 33 Tom Fawcett (STAN) d. No. 17 Wayne Montgomery (UGA) 7-6 (4), 3-6, 6-3
2) No. 75 Axel Geller (STAN) d. No. 31 Emil Reinberg (UGA) 7-5, 6-3
3) Sameer Kumar (STAN) vs. No. 45 Nathan Ponwith (UGA) 6-3, 4-6, 6-6 (unf.)
4) No. 26 Jan Zielinski (UGA) d. Eric Fomba (STAN) 3-6, 6-3, 6-2
5) No. 14 Walker Duncan (UGA) d. No. 117 David Wilczynski (STAN) 6-3, 6-3
6) William Genesen (STAN) d. Paul Oosterbaan (UGA) 7-5, 6-3
Order of Finish: 5,6,2,4,1,-
