For the third straight season, the League's head coaches and sports information directors voted junior Martin Sayer (Radford) as the Big South Conference Player of the Year. In addition, the HK Davis Cupper led the Highlanders to their second successive Big South Championship with a 4-2 victory over archrivals Winthrop over the weekend and thus earning Radford an automatic bid to next month's 124th NCAA Division I Men's Tennis Championships.
Martin was a unanimous choice amongst all selectors. He was ranked as high as No. 26 during this past season, went 14-0 in all dual matches exclusively at number one singles, and led Radford to a perfect 6-0 regular season conference record. The Highlanders were subsequently seeded first for the Big South Championships and romped through their oppositions' line-ups without dropping a point until the final against Winthrop.
Overall, Martin went 25-3 in singles and 12-4 in doubles. Since losing to 11th-ranked Dominic Inglot in the semifinals of the Wilson/ITA Mideast Regionals on 11 October 2007, Martin has gone undefeated at number one singles. He will take a 14-match win streak heading into the NCAA Division I Championships, starting on the second weekend of May.
He also dropped only one set en route to capturing the UNC Fall Invitational at Chapel Hill last September.
His only other two losses this entire season came during the Fall when he went down against 29th-ranked Treat Huey (Virginia) in the final of the UVA Fall Classic, and to 30th-ranked Erling Tveit (Mississippi) in the round of 64 at the Polo Ralph Lauren All American Championships.
Martin is 4-3 against nationally ranked players this season.
For good measure, the Martin Sayer-Zach Watson doubles combination went 8-1 since the start of the dual match season, with the lone loss coming against Winthrop in yesterday's Big South Championship title decider.
A glance through the Big South Conference record books showed that ex-Player of the Year Award winners include Paul Haarhuis (Armstrong State, 1985), who later transferred to Florida State the following season, and India's Ajay Ramaswami (Charleston Southern, 1999). From 1985-2004, the only RU Highlander to win the Big South Player of the Year Award was Rachid Benjellou (Radford, 1994).
As of today, the only player to win four such MVPs was Clayton Almeida of Brazil (Winthrop, 2000-04).
Haarhuis, an ex-Dutch Davis Cupper, was ranked as high as No. 18 in ATP singles and No. 1 for doubles. He owns 54 career doubles titles, with prize money totaling in excess of US$7.5 million. In addition, Haarhuis is one of 20 players (men) who have won a Career Grand Slam Doubles, i.e. all four majors – Australian, French, Wimbledon, and US Open – at one time or another.
Accordingly, Haarhuis is only a handful of players to possess a winning head-to-head record against Pete Sampras. After losing to Sampras at the 1994 French Open, he went on to win their next three encounters – Philadelphia, Monte Carlo, and Indian Wells. Some of these "handful of players" also include (but not necessarily limiting to) Sergi Bruguera, Richard Krajicek, Michael Stich, and Leander Paes.
Results
Big South Conference Championship
Winthrop University, Rock Hill, South Carolina
19 April 2008
Doubles
1. Bortolatto/Takahashi (WU) d. Sayer/Watson (RU) 9-7
2. Santos/Portugal (WU) d. Benhammou/Salec (RU) 9-7
3. Lloyd/Boslet (RU) d. Majchrzak/Pardo (WU) 8-1
Singles
1. Martin Sayer (RU) d. Vinicius Bortolatto (WU) 7-6 6-2
2. Rodrigo Santos (WU) vs. Ivan Salec (RU) 7-5 4-6 5-2 unfinished
3. James Lloyd (RU) d. Alejandro Portugal (WU) 6-1 1-6 6-3
4. Mehdi Benhammou (RU) d. Arthur Takahashi (WU) 7-6 7-6
5. Zack Watson (RU) d. Jose Pardo (WU) 7-6 6-2
6. Marcin Majchrzak (WU) def. Paul Boslet (RU) 6-2 6-2
Related Info:
124th NCAA DIVISION I MEN'S TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS
Team Selections: 29 Apr 2008
Individual Selections: 30 Apr 2008
First and Second Rounds: 9-11 May 2008
Finals: 16-26 May 2008
Venue: Michael D. Case Tennis Center, University of Tulsa
Photos courtesy of Radford Men's Tennis