Gustavus Adolphus men’s tennis player John Kauss (Sr., St. Paul, Minn.) won two singles matches before pairing with Mike Burdakin (Sr., Bettendorf, Iowa) to win a doubles match to to the quarterfinals of both the singles and doubles draws at the 2009 NCAA Division III Men’s Tennis Championships. The championships are being held at Biszantz Family Tennis Center in Claremont, Calif. Quarterfinals in both draws and semifinals in singles will be contested on Saturday.
Kauss, who is rated first nationally, opened the day with a 6-2, 6-1 over Max Frey of Trinity University (TX) before facing Randy Loden of Mary Washington. Kauss dropped the first set 6-3, but battled back to win the next two sets 6-3, 6-0 to advance to the quarterfinals where he will face Will Zhang of the University of Chicago. The quarterfinal and semifinal rounds of the singles draw will be be played on Saturday beginning at 11 a.m. (CDT).
Burdakin and Kauss, the top-rated doubles team in the nation, competed against David Maldow and Andrew Wang of Johns Hopkins University in the first round of doubles play. The Gusties prevailed in a tight first set 7-6 (7-5) before winning the second set 6-3. Burdakin and Kauss will face Bobby Cocanougher and Cory Kowal of Trinity University (TX) in the quarterfinals no earlier than 4 p.m. (CDT) depending on singles results.