Nishimura, Three Cal Pairs Advance at Regional
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Nishimura, Three Cal Pairs Advance at Regional

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STANFORD, Calif. – Sunday's doubles round of 16 will feature three California pairs and singles quarterfinals will include one Golden Bear at the USTA/ITA Northwest Regional Championships – with freshman J.T. Nishimura claiming that singles spot with an upset win on Saturday. Nishimura, among several players seeded 17th at the regional, knocked off the third-seeded and 63rd-ranked John Morrissey – who was playing on his home court – 6-4, 6-4 in the round of 16 at Stanford's Taube Family Stadium.

Nishimura had beaten the Cardinal's David Wilczynski, 6-4, 6-2, earlier Saturday in the round of 32. The first-year Bear plays another Cardinal player – David Hsu – in Sunday's noon quarterfinal.

Along with Nishimura's victory over Morrissey, Saturday action contained plenty of upsets – including Cal's top-ranked Andre Goransson falling against Fresno State's Evan McIntosh, 2-6, 7-5, 6-4, in the round of 16. Goransson had beaten Oregon's Simon Stevens, 7-5, 6-4, in the round of 32. Cal's fifth-seeded and 120th-ranked sophomore Filip Bergevi suffered an upset loss to Washington's 17th-seeded Mitch Stewart, 6-4, 7-6(10) in the round of 32.

Seeded fourth and ranked 81st, Cal junior Oskar Wikberg won his round of 32 match over Fresno State's 17th-seeded Sai Kartik Nakireddy, 6-1, 7-5. But the Swede dropped a 6-4, 6-4 result in the next round to Nolan Paige in another Cal-Stanford matchup.

Three Bears were seeded ninth in singles in senior Gregory Bayane, junior Mads Engsted and freshman Billy Griffith, and all lost on Saturday. Bayane (6-3, 6-1 to Gonzaga's Alvaro Nazal) and Engsted [6-7(6), 7-5, 7-5 to Washington's Jake Douglas] fell in the round of 32. Griffith beat UW's Gal Hakak, 7-6(3), 6-2, in that round but lost to Pacific's fifth-seeded and 125th-ranked Sem Verbeek, 6-3, 6-4, in the round of 16.

In doubles on Saturday, the top-seeded Cal duo of seniors Bayane and Chase Melton, the third-seeded team of Goransson and Wikberg, and the fifth-seeded pair of Bergevi and Engsted advanced out of the round of 32. Melton and Bayane – ranked seventh – defeated Tommy Lam/James Wade of UC Davis, 8-5, Wikberg and Goransson edged San Francisco's Thomas Takemoto/Vasco Valverde, 8-7(1), and Engsted and Bergevi prevailed over Pacific's Lance Ngo/Eric Spence, 8-2.

The regional concludes on Tuesday.

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