MSU's Baris reaches NCAA tennis semis: 'I think I'm just getting better as the tournament goes on'
Ozan Baris is one win away from playing for a national championship.
Baris, a Michigan State sophomore and Okemos native, became the first MSU player ever to reach the NCAA men's tennis semifinals Thursday when he rolled over Ohio State's Jack Anthrop, 6-4, 6-1, in the quarterfinals at the NCAA Championships in Stillwater, Oklahoma.
Baris, the No. 8 seed in the 64-player tournament field, will play Filip Planinsek of Alabama in the semifinals at 11 a.m. Friday.
Planinsek, who is ranked No. 29, defeated 15th-ranked Cooper Williams of Harvard, 6-4, 1-6, 6-4, in their quarterfinal match.
Baris took control of Thursday's match early, earning the first two breaks in the first set and bouncing out to a 3-1 lead. Anthrop, also a sophomore, would claim a few games back, but the national No. 30 player never led in the match. Baris won the first set, 6-4, and then immediately took command in the second set, jumping out to a 4-0 lead on his way to a 6-1 victory.
“I feel like from the start I had the hunger that I needed to and I started off really well," Baris said. "I got the break the first game and just carried that through. From my end I was in the mindset from the start. I thought I played well and I converted the way that I wanted to. I brought a lot of fight, I thought that was a separating factor for me today.”
Baris has now won eight straight matches and hasn’t lost in singles since March 10. He’s 32-6 on the season and already secured All-American status for the second time.
“It was a super clean match from start to finish," MSU assistant coach Mike Flowers said about Thursday's match. "He was committed to a gameplan that was going to put him in a position to win and he didn’t stray from it. Good on him, he kept his head on his shoulders and played very disciplined and structured tennis.”
Baris has stacked dominant wins in four straight days, dropping just one set out of nine played through the first four rounds of the tournament. After losing his first set Tuesday, he went on to handle Stanford’s 55th-ranked Samir Banerjee, 4-6, 6-0, 6-2, in his first round of 32 appearance.
On Wednesday, Baris controlled No. 13 Jack Pinnington of TCU, who had won 12 straight matches, including in the NCAA Team Championship title run that ended in success for the Horned Frogs Sunday. In the first round Monday, Baris knocked off Auburn’s 31st-ranked Tyler Stice, 6-2, 6-4.
“I think I’m just getting better as the tournament goes on, honestly," Baris said. "The main emphasis has been starting off very strong and from the first point just wanting it badly. I have been able to do that in three of the matches. There’s been a very big emphasis on from the very first point competing to the best of my ability.”
Baris' match on Friday will be streamed live on ESPN+ and on Track Tennis for free without commentary.
The winner of the national title match on Saturday, if American, receives a bid from the United States Tennis Association into the main draw of the U.S. Open in Flushing Meadow, N.Y., which starts in late August.
— MSU Athletic Communications
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Michigan State's Ozan Baris wins in straight sets to reach NCAA semis
