May 27, 2000
ATHENS, Georgia - Stanford junior Alex Kim (Potomac, MD/Winston Churchill HS) outlasted sophomore teammate K.J. Hippensteel (Roanoke, VA/International Academy) 6-2, 6-7 (1), 6-2 in the semifinals of the NCAA Men's Singles Championships on Saturday afternoon at the University of Georgia. The fifth-seeded and seventh-ranked Kim will face unseeded Carlos Drada of Kentucky (6-2, 6-4 winner over top-seeded Jeff Morrison of Florida) for the NCAA singles title on Sunday at 10:00 a.m. (Pacific time).
"It's unbelievable to be in the finals tomorrow," Kim said. "It's just something that I hadn't even thought about. It's a great opportunity in a great tournament."
Kim, who improved to 44-7 on the season, had his incredible week continue against the 11th-ranked and No. 9-16 seed Hippensteel. In the last six days alone, Kim has helped Stanford win the national team title and advanced to the singles final by defeating four of the top 11 players in the nation (#1 Morrison, #2 Daniel Andersson of Virginia Commonwealth, #8 Esteban Carrill of TCU and #11 Hippensteel). He now attempts to become Stanford's first singles champion since Bob Bryan defeated Paul Goldstein in 1998.
Hippensteel fought off three match points in the second set, and won the ensuing tiebreaker 7-1 to force a third and deciding set. Kim then won the third set 6-2 and move within one step away of being Stanford's 13th NCAA singles champion.
"That was a great effort by K.J." Kim said. "I'm not sure how he does it. He came back from an injury and has played a lot of tennis this week, because he has gone to three sets in almost every match. He battled and I am very fortunate to come out of the match with a win. In the second set I wasn't playing that bad but let up just enough for him to get back in the match. He kept pulling off some great shots. There was nothing I could really do about it so I couldn't get upset."
"I had to hang in there and stay aggressive," Hippensteel said. "In the third set my goal was to hit the ball harder and move him more. I knew he was getting tired so I wanted to stay aggressive so I could come out of there with a win."