Wake, Ole Miss players claim NCAA singles titles

   The Wake Forest men made the most of their homecourt advantage in the NCAA Championships.
   After the Demon Deacons won the team title at home in Winston-Salem, N.C., on Tuesday, two of their players met in today's singles final. No. 4 seed Petros Chrysochos, a junior from Cyprus, defeated No. 7 Borna Gojo, a sophomore from Croatia, 6-3, 6-3.
   It was the first time in 20 years and fourth time in history that two men from the same school played for the NCAA title. In 1998, Stanford's Bob Bryan defeated Paul Goldstein in Athens, Ga.
   In today's women's final, No. 6 Arianne Hartono, a Mississippi senior from the Netherlands, beat No. 9-16 Ashley Lahey, a Pepperdine sophomore from Hawthorne in the Los Angeles area, 6-4, 6-2. Lahey was Hartono's third straight Pepperdine opponent.
   International players swept the singles titles for the first time since Cal's Suzi Babos (Hungary) and UCLA's Benjamin Kohllhoeffel (Germany) in 2006. Americans had won four consecutive men's titles and six straight women's crowns.
   Today's doubles finals featured four unseeded teams.
   UCLA's Martin Redlicki and Evan Zhu saved a match point in their 6-7 (8), 7-6 (4) [11-9] victory over Ohio State's Martin Joyce and Mikael Torpegaard.
   Redlicki, a senior from Boca Raton, Fla., also won the 2016 NCAA doubles title with Mackenzie McDonald, from Piedmont in the San Francisco Bay Area.
   As for Torpegaard, you have to feel for the guy. The senior from Denmark also lost to McDonald 6-3, 6-3 in the 2016 NCAA singles final and fell to Chrysochos in last week's singles quarterfinals in a third-set tiebreaker. Furthermore, Ohio State lost to Wake Forest 4-2 in last week's team final.
   LSU's Jessica Golovin and Eden Richardson outclassed Vladica Babic and Sofia Blanco of Oklahoma State 6-3, 6-2.
   All finals were moved indoors because of rain.

Wake men, Waves women dominate NCAA singles

   It's unlikely, but the NCAA Championships could feature all-Wake Forest and all-Pepperdine singles finals.
   Today, No. 4 seed Petros Chrysochos and No. 7 Borna Gojo of host and NCAA champion Wake Forest reached the men's semifinals, and No. 9-16 Ashley Lahey and unseeded Mayar Sherif of Pepperdine advanced to the women's semis.
   Chrysochos, a junior from Cyprus, edged No. 6 Mikael Torpegaard of Ohio State 4-6, 6-2, 7-6 (2). Torpegaard, a senior from Denmark, reached the NCAA final two years ago.
   Chrysochos will meet No. 1 Martin Redlicki of UCLA.
   Gojo, a sophomore from Croatia, topped No. 2 William Blumberg of North Carolina 4-6, 6-4, 6-3. Blumberg, a sophomore from Greenwich, Conn., advanced to last year's final.
   Gojo will face No. 3 Nuno Borges, a Mississippi State junior from Portugal who reached the semis for the second consecutive year.
   Lahey, a sophomore from Hawthorne in the Los Angeles region, beat No. 9-16 Andrea Lazaro of Florida International 7-5, 5-7, 6-3.
   Lahey will play No. 8 Fernanda Contreras, a Vanderbilt junior from Austin, Texas. Stanford edged Vanderbilt 4-3 in the NCAA final on Tuesday.
   Sherif, a senior from Egypt, nipped No. 9-16 Astra Sharma of Vanderbilt 6-2, 2-6, 7-6 (5).
   Sherif, who transferred from Fresno State two years ago, will take on No. 6 Arianne Hartono, a Mississippi senior from the Netherlands who defeated another Pepperdine player, 2016 semifinalist Luisa Stefani of Brazil, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3. Stefani ousted top-seeded Bianca Turati of Texas in the first round.
   The women's semifinals are scheduled for Sunday at 9 a.m. PDT, and the men's semis are set for 10:30 a.m. Both matches, as well as the doubles semis beginning at noon, will be streamed live.
   Both of the top seeds in doubles lost to unseeded teams 10-7 in match tiebreakers.
   Redlicki and Evan Zhu outlasted Borges and Strahinja Rakic 4-6, 6-3 [10-7], and Sara Daavettila and Alle Sanford of North Carolina nipped Paige Hourigan and Kenya Jones of Georgia Tech 6-4, 1-6 [10-7].