OJAI, Calif. – For the second time in a 12-day span William Genesen won a three-set thriller to deliver No. 14 Stanford a 4-3 victory. This time, the junior clinched the dual for the third-seeded Cardinal over sixth-seeded Arizona in the quarterfinals of the Pac-12 Men's Tennis Championship Thursday evening at Libbey Park.
With the victory, Stanford advanced to the semifinals of the conference tournament. The Cardinal will face second-seeded USC Friday at 4 p.m. in a dual carried live on Pac-12 Network and Pac-12 Bay Area.
For the third time in the last four matches the Cardinal played a marathon dual, surpassing the three-hour mark. Stanford (17-5) won all three of the duals by a 4-3 score, defeating California, Oregon and now Arizona.
Victory!
— Stanford Men's Tennis (@StanfordTennis) April 26, 2019
??: 4 | ??: 3#GoStanford | #Pac12Tennis pic.twitter.com/gsmBf71KZr
Like he did against Cal less than two weeks ago, Genesen delivered the clutch clincher. After dropping the first set (2-6), the junior stormed back for a 6-4 victory to force a decisive third set. He fell behind, 2-1, in that third set before seizing momentum. Genesen won the next three games, highlighted by an acrobatic play at the net in the fourth game to spark the run. The Cardinal junior captured four of the next five games, en route to the 6-4 victory. He was mobbed by his teammates after delivering his second clincher in the last four duals.
Nearly three hours before Genesen's heroics, Stanford captured the doubles point to move out to a 1-0 lead. The Cardinal and Wildcats traded points over the first two singles matches, with Alexandre Rotsaert continuing his strong play of late to capture the win at No. 2 and Sangeet Sridhar picking up the victory at No. 6.
Needing wins in the final two matches. Arizona tied it at 3-3 with a 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-4 win from Carlos Haasey over Timothy Sah at No. 5.
That put all eyes on court three, where Genesen slammed the door on the Wildcats' comeback bid.
Thursday's victory extended Stanford's overall winning streak to four. The Cardinal has now won 12 straight against Arizona.
No. 14 Stanford 4, No. 26 Arizona 3
DOUBLES
1. Sameer Kumar/ Timothy Sah (STAN) d. Igor Karpovets/Jonas Ziverts (UA) 6-1
2. Jack Barber/Axel Geller (STAN) vs. Filip Malbasic/Alejandro Reguant (UA) 6-6 (0-2), UNF
3. Alexandre Rotsaert/Sangeet Sridhar (STAN) d. Stewart Block/Jonas Maier (UA) 6-4
Order of Finish: 1,3
SINGLES
1. Jonas Ziverts (UA) d. No. 12 Axel Geller (STAN) 6-1, 7-5
2. No. 55 Alexandre Rotsaert (STAN) d. No. 69 Filip Malbasic (UA) 6-3, 6-4
3. William Genesen (STAN) d. Igor Karpovets (UA) 2-6, 6-4, 6-4
4. Alejandro Reguant (UA) d. No. 104 Sameer Kumar (STAN) 7-5, 6-2
5. Carlos Hassey (UA) d. Timothy Sah (STAN) 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-4
6. No. 125 Sangeet Sridhar (STAN) d. Jonas Maier (UA) 6-4, 6-3
Order of Finish: 1,6,2,4,5,3