Farlow Lifts Bulldog Tennis To Dramatic 4-3 Upset At No. 20 Auburn

Friday, March 13

Auburn, Ala.

2:00 PM

Mississippi State

Auburn

Farlow Lifts Bulldog Tennis To Dramatic 4-3 Upset At No. 20 Auburn

March 13, 2009 | Men's Tennis

By: hailstate.com

AUBURN, Ala. ? Down 4-1 in the third set, Mississippi State senior Ryan Farlow won the last five games of his singles match Friday to pull out a dramatic three-set upset over Auburn senior Alexev Tsyrenov and lift the Bulldog tennis squad to a 4-3 upset of the 20th-ranked Tigers on the Plains.

With the win, State improved to 5-4 overall, 1-2 in Southeastern Conference action. Auburn fell to 8-3, 2-1 in the league.

The match between Farlow and Tsyrenov featured an epic finish at the top position in the lineup and came after the teams stood tied at 3-3 nearly two hours earlier. Farlow, ranked 118th nationally, had built a one-set lead and held a two-break advantage at 5-2 in the second set before the 69th-ranked Tsyrenov rallied back to force a tiebreaker and win the second set to send the match to a decisive third stanza.

In the third, Tsyrenov built a 4-1, two-break lead of his own before Farlow manufactured the near-unbelievable, winning five consecutive games to overcome the deficit and clinch the win for State with a 7-5, 6-7(5), 6-4 triumph, his third upset of a ranked opponent this season.

”We are extremely proud of Ryan's effort today...just a really great match,” MSU head coach Per Nilsson said. “It was great for the other guys to see Ryan take over in that manner. It was a veteran move by him and it was great for the new guys to experience that, because what he did was incredible.”

That match came after the teams traded punches the entire afternoon.

State claimed the opening point of the match in a tightly-contested doubles point. Auburn's 11th-ranked duo Tsyrenov and Tim Puetz started things with an 8-3 win over Bulldogs Chris Doerr and Tanner Stump at the No. 1 spot. State's duo of Louis Cant and Artem Ilyushin evened things with an 8-5 triumph over Tigers Milan Krnjetin and Michel Monteiro at No. 3. MSU's tandem of Antonio Lastre and Daniel Sanchez then continued their excellent start to the dual match season, claiming a tough 9-8(7) tiebreak battle at No. 2 over AU's pair of Lukas Marsoun and Alex Stamchev.

MSU took a 2-0 lead in the contest when the junior Doerr, playing at the No. 6 spot, cruised to a 6-1, 6-0 victory over Auburn's Alex Petropoulos. Auburn trimmed the lead back to 2-1 with a 6-2, 6-1 win from Stamchev over MSU's Cant at the No. 5 spot, and then knotted the score at 2-2 when Marsoun finished a 6-4, 6-1 triumph over State's Sanchez on court 3.

The teams then traded wins on courts 2 and 4 to take the score to 3-3. On court 2, the 105th-ranked Tiger Puetz finished off State's Ilyushin after a second-set challenge from the MSU rookie, 6-2, 7-6(3). At No. 4, MSU's Lastre completed a 7-5, 6-3 victory over Krnjetin.

That set up the exciting finish between Farlow and Tsyrenov at No. 1.

“That was just an incredible match,” Nilsson said. “Every team we play from here on out is awesome. We felt like we could have won last weekend against two great teams and we finally came through today against another great one. It was great to finally pull a conference match out and we can only get better for the remainder of the season.”

State's next action will be Sunday when the Bulldogs meet No. 23 Alabama in Tuscaloosa at 1 p.m. CT.

#75 MISSISSIPPI STATE 4, #20 AUBURN 3
March 13, 2009 ? Auburn, Ala.

DOUBLES ? #11 Alexey Tsyrenov/Tim Puetz (AU) def. Chris Doerr/Tanner Stump (MSU) 8-3; Antonio Lastre/Daniel Sanchez (MSU) def. Lukas Marsoun/Alex Stamchev (AU) 9-8(7); Louis Cant/Artem Ilyushin (MSU) def. Milan Krnjetin/Michel Monteiro (AU) 8-5.

SINGLES ? #118 Ryan Farlow (MSU) def. #69 Tsyrenov (AU) 7-5, 6-7(5), 6-4; #105 Puetz (AU) def. Ilyushin (MSU) 6-2, 7-6(3); Marsoun (AU) def. Sanchez (MSU) 6-4, 6-1; Lastre (MSU) def. Krnjetin (AU) 7-5, 6-3; Stamchev (AU) def. Cant (MSU) 6-2, 6-1; Doerr (MSU) def. Alex Petropoulos (AU) 6-1, 6-0.

Order of finish: Doubles (1,3,2), Singles (6,5,3,2,4,1)

(numbers preceding names are current national rankings)