In the opening round of the NCAA Division I Championships, Martin Sayer (Radford) tussled with No. 8 seed Alex Clayton (Stanford) for three sets before going down, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, while Venise Chan (Washington) was caught off guard by the swirling conditions as well as the moon-balling strategy of 24th-ranked Reka Zsilinszka (Duke) in a 6-2, 7-5 setback.

Although Clayton is the highest seeded player Martin has faced at the NCAAs during his past three forays into the post-season, the Hong Kong Davis Cupper actually took the opening set, 6-4, behind some strong forecourt play against the Stanford number one, who was just declared the ITA National Rookie of the Year.

Radford Men's Tennis Head Coach Mike Anderson, said, "Martin served well and played some terrific points at the net in the first set. I suggested to him towards the end of the first set that he should slice more down the line and take away Clayton's ability to tee off on the ball, and it worked, as Martin closed out the first set with three straight slices."

It was Martin who drew first blood by gaining the lone break that was enough to net him the opening set, 6-4. Clayton managed to break serve in the third game of the second set and held the rest of the way to pull even at one set apiece. Martin then had a decent look with three break points when Clayton was serving at 3-2 down in the third. However, the former Hong Kong junior No. 1 could not convert, as the Stanford freshman again coming up with key first serves to hold.

As it so often happens, Clayton then broke in the next game in what turned out to be the winning service break to register a 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, victory. He has since gone on to beat Harel Srugo (UCLA) to reach the last 16, which also earns him a singles All-America honour.

"Sayer was excellent," said Stanford head coach John Whitlinger on the Cardinal's own team page. "It was a very competitive and hard fought match, and a few points here and there decided it."

The freshman from Stanford has had a superb Fall season. First, as a qualifier, he beat five nationally-ranked players to reach the quarterfinals at the Polo Ralph Lauren All American Championships before losing to eventual champion, Travis Helgeson. Then at the ITA National Indoors less than a month later, he produced straight-set wins against 65th-ranked Dominic Inglot (Virginia), 31st-ranked Bassam Beidas (Pepperdine), and 10th-ranked Greg Oullette (Florida) before losing to eventual winner and top-ranked Somdev Dev Varman (Virginia) in the semis. His ranking subsequently jumped from a preseason No. 111 (7 Sep 2007) to a whopping No. 2 (8 Jan 2008).

Martin has been an automatic selection from the Big South Conference to compete at the season-ending NCAA Men's Division I Tennis Championship, now in its 124th edition. According to ruhighlanders.com, it was Martin's first loss of the spring season as he finished 14-1 and completed his junior campaign with a 25-4 overall record. Already in possession of a school record 94 total victories, Martin will return for his senior season with the century mark almost certainly within grasp.

See [NCAA Men's D1 Championship Results] (1977 - 2007)

See [2007 All-America Team]

Over in the women's singles, rookie Venise Chan (Washington) was partaking for the first time at the Big Show, and the first from UW to do so since Dea Sumantri in 2005. However, some well-advised moon-balling tactics under fairly windy conditions by Zsilinszka turned out to be a winning strategy.

Even so, the match was toe-to-toe in the opening set until 3-2 when the player from Duke broke twice in succession to pull away with it, 6-2. Still, the rookie from Hong Kong somehow managed to keep things afloat until 5-5 in the second set when she missed out on a game point. Zsilinska came back to break serve and then saved break points on her own serve in the ensuing game to end the match, 6-2, 7-5.

Although featuring primarily at No. 3 singles for Duke, Zsilinszka had nonetheless chalked up several good wins in her rookie season that included the likes of 32nd-ranked Samantha Murray (Northwestern), 18th-ranked Lenka Broosova (Baylor), and 39th-ranked Yvette Hyndman (Georgia).

Earlier in the week, the various ITA National Award winners were announced after the conclusion of the team championships where Georgia repeated as men's champions, while UCLA beat Berkeley to capture its first ever NCAA women's title (For complete scores and results from the 2008 NCAA Division I Men's and Women's Tennis Championships, go here).

The ITA National Player to Watch Award went to Russia's Maria Mosolova (Northwestern), who is 39-5 in singles in her rookie season and has been pretty much second-ranked Northwestern's designated No. 1 player. She also defeated teammate Georgia Rose to win the consolation final at the ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships.

As one of the Top-16 seeded players at the NCAA Championships, it already guarantees her status as a singles All-American. She is currently ranked No. 5 on the ITA Collegiate Rankings.

For a complete list of this season's ITA National and Regional Award winners, Try Here.

Results
NCAA Division I Singles Championships
Michael D. Case Tennis Center, Univ. of Tulsa
21-27 May 2008

MEN'S SINGLES

First Round
(8)Alex Clayton (Stanford) d. Martin Sayer (Radford) 4-6 6-4 6-4

WOMEN'S SINGLES

First Round
Reka Zsilinszka (Duke) d. Venise Chan (Washington) 6-2 7-5