Oct. 4, 2008

Fresno, Calif. - Senior Moritz Starke (Bamberg, Germany), sophomore Artem Gramma (Krivoj Roj, Ukraine) and freshman Christian Kuehne (Morbach, Germany) started the 2008 tournament season off in style for the Pacific men's tennis team as each player advanced to their respective singles quarterfinal on the first day of action at the Fresno State Bulldog Classic on Friday, Oct. 3.

The 2007 Big West Player of the Year, Starke appears to be returning to the form he displayed as a sophomore, easily advancing to the quarterfinals of the 'A' Singles draw with straight set victories over Stephen Stege of UC Irvine and Matt Tosches of San Diego State.

Gramma's path to the quarterfinals of the 'B' Singles draw was slightly more difficult. Artem needed to rally after losing the first set to Augustin Myard from Nevada to take a three set victory to advance to the round of 16. Once there, Gramma downed UC Irvine's Steven Henderson: 6-3, 6-3.

The third and final Tiger to advance to the quarterfinal round was Kuehne in the 'C' Singles draw. Slated as the fourth seed, Kuehne earned a straight set victory over Cal Poly's Rob Zacks, then outlasted Hunter Lee of UC Davis in three sets as Lee was forced to retire at 5-5 in the third set with an injury.

The tandem of Kuehne and Starke also breezed into the quarterfinals of the 'A' Doubles draw with an 8-1 win over Andy Benson and Evan Jurgensen of UC Santa Barbara and a 8-2 defeat of Torin Ching and Mitch Del Rosario of San Francisco in the round of 16.

The Tigers will continue play at the Bulldog Classic on Saturday, Oct. 4 and conclude action in the tournament on Sunday, Oct. 5.

Results:
Bulldog Classic A Singles
Round of 32
(8) Moritz Starke (PAC) def. Stephen Stege (UCI): 7-6 (4), 6-1

Bulldog Classic B Singles
Round of 32
(1) Artem Gramma (PAC) def. Augustin Myard (NEV): 1-6, 6-1, 7-5
Vegerd Veskimagi (PAC) def. Zac Tsai (UCI): 6-4, 6-2

Round of 16
(1) Artem Gramma (PAC) def. Steven Henderson (UCI): 6-3, 6-3
Jose Hilla (FCC) def. Vegerd Veskimagi (PAC): 6-3, 6-3

Bulldog Classic C Singles
Round of 32
Ryan Kim (PAC) def. Orion Ashmore (NEV): 6-0, 6-4
(4) Christian Kuehne (PAC) def. Rob Zacks (CP): 6-1, 6-2
Evan Jurgensen (UCSB) def. Brian Van Wagner (PAC): 6-0, 6-1

Round of 16
Alex Kotlyar (USF) def. Ryan Kim (PAC): 6-4, 6-3
(4) Christian Kuehne (PAC) def. Hunter Lee (UCD): 3-6, 6-1, 5-5 Ret (inj.)

Consolation Round
Nick Berger (CP) def. Brian Van Wagner (PAC): 6-1, 6-0

Bulldog Classic A Doubles
Round of 32
Josh Finkelstein/Scott Hohenstein (UCSB) def. Gramma/Veskimagi (PAC): 8-4
Kuehne/Starke (PAC) def. Andy Benson / Jurgensen (UCSB): 8-1

Round of 16
Kuehne/Starke (PAC) def. Torin Ching / Mitch Del Rosario (USF): 8-2

Bulldog Classic B Doubles
Round of 16
Jacob Hartwig/Alex Kotlyar (USF) def. Kim/Van Wagner (PAC): 9-8 (4)