Michigan State's Ozan Baris cruises into NCAA tennis quarterfinals
STILLWATER, Okla. – It's on to the NCAA quarterfinals for Michigan State's Ozan Baris.
Baris, a sophomore and Okemos native, knocked off TCU's Jack Pinnington, 6-1, 7-6 (5), on Wednesday at the NCAA Singles Championships at Oklahoma State University.
Baris, the tournament's No. 8 seed, moves on to play Ohio State's Jack Anthrop, who is ranked No. 30, in the quarterfinals at 11 a.m. Thursday. Anthrop defeated Virginia's Dylan Dietrich, 7-5, 7-6 in the round of 16 Wednesday.
Baris is the second Spartan to ever advance to the quarterfinals and the first since Mashiska Washington in 1994. A win on Thursday would make him the first Spartan to advance to the semifinals in program history. Baris, the Big Ten Player of the Year, has now won seven straight matches, three against top-20 opponents, and hasn’t dropped a match in singles since March 10. He’s now 31-6 on the season and secured All-American status for the second time in his two seasons at MSU.
Baris had advanced to the round of 16 by rallying from a set down to trounce Stanford’s 55th-ranked Samir Banerjee in the second and third sets, 6-0, 6-2, in the second round Tuesday. In Monday's first round, Baris knocked off Auburn’s 31st-ranked Tyler Stice, 6-2, 6-4.
Pinnington, ranked 13th in the latest ITA player rankings, entered Wednesday's match having won 12 straight matches, 10 against ranked opponents, including key wins at the No. 1 singles spot during the sixth-ranked TCU's NCAA Team Championship title run that just concluded in Stillwater on Sunday.
Baris' opponent on Thursday, Anthrop, played at No. 4 singles for the Buckeye team that sat atop the national rankings during the entire regular season and has a season record of 41-4. The redshirt-sophomore has beaten No. 14 Radu Papoe, the player to last beat Baris, No. 67 Quinn Vandecasteele and No. 52 Dietrich on his way to the quarterfinals.
Thursday's match will be streamed on ESPN+ with a subscription and on Track Tennis for free without commentary.
Baris and double partner Max Sheldon, the Spartans’ lone doubles pairing selected to the NCAA Championships, were eliminated in the first round Tuesday, falling to the nation’No. 2 duo of Dhakshineswar Suresh and Holden Koons of Wake Forest, 6-1, 6-2.
— MSU Athletic Communications
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Michigan State's Ozan Baris cruises into NCAA tennis quarterfinals
