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October 10, 1999
TEMPE, Ariz.- Auburn's number two seeded Steve Huss and Mark Kovacs won the Thunderbird Invitational at Arizona State on Saturday night by defeating the number one
seeded Carter and Alex Osterrieth of Arizona State, 8-2.
Huss and Kovacs started the invitational by defeating Mike Kosta (Illinois) and David Ruiz (Mississippi State) 8-6. They then went on to the quarterfinals to defeat another pair from Arizona State, Matt Jacobs and Pim Van Mele, 8-6. In their final day of play, the duo first defeated Jeff Laski and Jamal Parker from Illinois in the semifinals, 8-6.
In singles action each player won their opening match, with Huss defeating Genius Chidzikwe of SMU, 6-3, 6-3 while Kovacs defeated Toby Hansson, of SMU, 6-4, 7-6 (5). In the second round of play, Huss defeated Eric Robertson of Minnesota, 7-5, 6-2, while Kovacs lost to Rene Combette of Mississippi State, 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (2).
Huss went on to defeat Henrik Tofft of Arkansas, 7-6 (6), 6-3 in the quarterfinals but fell to the top seeded Peter Luczak of Fresno State in the semifinals, 6-3, 2-6, 6-4.
In other tennis action at the Southern Collegiate Championships at the University of Georgia another Auburn duo, Tiago Ruffoni and Roitis Tukons, lost in the doubles final Sunday night to Georgia's, Matias Boeker and Travis Parrott, 7-6 (1), 7-5.
In first round action Auburn's Marcel Mizerski and Estevan Strecker defeated Marcus Andresen and Karl Henrik Bredvold of Stetson, 8-2.
In singles action on opening day Ruffoni defeated UAB's Kolie Van Zyl (6-4, 7-5) then LSU's Ajay Ramaswami, 6-4, 7-6 (4). Strecker defeated ETSU's Marcos Pavlovich (6-1, 6-2 ) then lost to Duke's Ted Rueger, 5-7, 6-1, 7-6 (6). Tukons opened up by defeating Winthrop's Gustavo Kawassaki, 7-6 (4), 3-6, 6-3 then lost to Georgia's Travis Parrott (6-2, 7-5). Mizerski bypassed the first round with a bye and then lost his first match to Florida State's Mike Ingham, 6-4, 6-2.
In the second day of action in the singles round of 16, Ruffoni defeated Florida State's Chad Mooney (6-0, 6-2) then lost in the quarterfinals to Tennessee's Paul Podbury, 4-6, 6-1, 6-4. In doubles action Ruffoni and Tukons defeated Murray State's Nikola Aracic and Tony Hardman, 9-8 (4) while the doubles pair of Mizerski and Strecker were defeated by Tulane's Chris Ortner and Derya Rose, 9-8 (5).
In the third day of play, Auburn's duo of Ruffoni and Tukons first defeated ETSU's Roberto Fernandez and Gustavo Gomez, 9-8 (6), in the quarterfinals and defeated UAB's Alex Jung and Martin Woisetschleager in the semifinals, 8-5, before losing in the finals on the fourth and final day of play.
Steve Huss and Tiago Ruffoni will pair for action on October 14 at the Reebok/ITA All-American Championships at the University of Texas. The duo was also honored as the ITA National Doubles Team of the Month, for September after winning the National Clay Court Championships.
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