Daescu, Paval Fall in Challenger Main Draw

Sept. 13, 2011

TULSA, Okla. – University of Oklahoma tennis standout Costin Paval and former Sooner All-American Andrei Daescu fell in the opening round of the USTA Tulsa Challenger main draw Monday, hosted at the Philcrest Hills Tennis Club in Tulsa, Okla.

In total, six current Sooners and one former OU standout competed in the Challenger qualifying rounds, but only Paval and Daescu survived to play in the main draw.

“I was very pleased to see so many guys win matches and advance to the last round of qualies,” John Roddick said. “I am especially proud to see Costin and Andrei advance all the way to the main draw. Costin had a great experience playing Mike Russell, who just lost to my brother in 4 sets at the U.S. Open. Costin had chances and played a great second set. It is an extremely valuable learning experience for him.”

Paval (1,515 ATP-ranking) won three straight-set matches in qualifying action over Tulsa's Tristan Jackson, Baylor's Roberto Maytin (855 ATP) and current Sooner Tsvetan Mihov to advance to the main draw. In the main draw, Paval fell to Michael Russell (99 ATP) of the United States, 6-2, 7-5.

Daescu (686 ATP) qualified for the main draw for the third time of his career after he downed Tulsa's Clifford Marsland, Robert Verzaal and current Sooner Guillermo Alcorta (1515 ATP) in straight sets. In the main draw, Daescu fell to Catalin Gard (499 ATP) in three sets, 1-6, 6-2, 6-4.

Three Sooners – Dane Webb, Tzvetan Mihov and Alcorta - fell one match shy of advancing to the main draw. Webb, a freshman from Dallas, Texas, defeated Benjamin Rogers and OSU's Maniel Bains (1368 ATP) before falling to the No. 1 seed, Michael McClune (558 ATP).

Mihov, a native of Sofia, Bulgaria, defeated fifth-seeded Joshua Zavala (1126 ATP) in the opening round and OSU's Rifat Biktyakov in the second round before falling to Paval in the finals.

Alcorta, a sophomore from Bilbao, Spain, began qualifying action by downing the No. 7 seed, Edward Louies Oueilhe (1400 ATP), in straight sets and ousted the Cowboy's Eric West in the second round.

Peerakit Siributwong won his first match over former Sooner Blake Boswell, but dropped his second match to the No. 4 seed Chris Wettengel (856 ATP). John Warden was the final Sooner in action. Warden fell in his opening match to Damon Gooch (1250 ATP), the No. 6 seed.

The Challenger Tour is the springboard to fame for the future stars of professional tennis. At these events up-and-coming players compete to earn ATP Ranking points that qualify them to compete at the very top levels of competition.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Daescu, Paval Fall in Challenger Main Draw

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