Top-Seeded Bulldog Baron Starts Bid for NCAA Singles Title Well; Ambert Falls
May 25, 2016
Baron, the tournament's No. 1 seed and ranked second nationally, downed Southern Cal's 37th-ranked Ryan Moore, this year's Pac-10 singles champion, 6-2, 6-3 Thursday morning.
The MSU senior all-American will now meet the winner of Tennessee's 25th-ranked Peter Handoyo and Princeton's Kyle Kliegerman, a contest that was scheduled for late Thursday, in Friday's second round. Baron has now won 20 of his last 21 singles matches.
MSU rookie Romain Ambert did not fair as well in his debut in the NCAA singles field. The 22nd-ranked Bulldog was upset by Erik Scharf of St. John's 6-3, 6-4. Ambert had built a 4-1 lead in the second set before Scharf battled back for the victory.
The Toulouse, France, product ended his initial season at State with an impressive 27-11 singles record and held a national ranking as high as No. 6 in the country during the year. Named first-team, all-SEC and ITA Region III Player to Watch, his record was limited when he missed a month-and-a-half of competition after breaking his ankle on March 25. He returned to the MSU lineup in last week's NCAA Team Championship and helped lead the Bulldogs to the NCAA round of 16 for the 10th time in the last 11 seasons.
The 32-team NCAA Doubles Championship will begin Friday as well. Baron teams with Chris McDonald to form the nation's 21st-ranked duo. That MSU pair will meet Duke's 22nd-ranked tandem of Phillip King and Ramsey Smith Friday afternoon.
In addition to daily updates on MSU's official athletic site, www.mstateathletics.com, MSU's play in the 2001 NCAA Men's Tennis Championships can be followed on the web at www.ncaachampionships.com, as well as www.georgiadogs.com, with live updates for all matches being hosted on the Georgia site.
2001 NCAA INDIVIDUAL CHAMPIONSHIPS, Athens, Ga.NCAA SINGLES CHAMPIONSHIPFirst RoundNo. 2 Marco Baron (MSU) def. No. 37 Ryan Moore (Southern Cal) 6-2, 6-3Erik Scharf (St. John's) def. No. 22 Romain Ambert (MSU) 6-3, 6-4
(numbers preceding names are current national rankings)
