Sept. 22, 1999

BALTIMORE, Md - - Texas Tech's Borut Martincevic and Ryan Shupe, the No. 1 doubles combination for the Red Raiders, will advance to the main draw at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Clay Court Tournament after winning their pre-qualifying matches Tuesday evening at the T. Rowe Price National Clay Court Championships Saturday at Suburban Country Club.

The Texas Tech duo defeated Pero Pavecevic and Krishane Pillay of Temple 8-6 in their first match then went on to beat Phillip Metz and Chris Porter of Ohio State 8-3. Martincevic and Shupe will play Thursday against an opponent yet to be decided.

In singles play, which had been delayed repeatedly by rain stoppages, Shupe lost his first round match against Damien Ward of Brigham Young 8-3. Another Red Raider, Jevgenij Cariov, failed to advance after falling short in the qualifying rounds. Cariov defeated Angelo Vasilescu of UM-Kansas City in two sets (6-1, 6-0) and Frederik Mellin of Mississippi in three sets (6-4, 3-6, 6-3) before losing to Daniel Wajnberg of Georgia State in his third match. Competitors needed to win three matches in the pre-qualifying rounds to advance to the main draw.

Borut Martincevic received an automatic bye into the main draw and will face off tomorrow morning against a yet to be decided qualifier.

The most prestigious tournament of the year, the T. Rowe Price National Clay Court Championships will consist of a 64-player singles and a 32-team doubles draw for the men and a 32-player singles and 16-team doubles draw for the women. The men's singles draw features 48 players who have gained automatic berths into the main draw and 16 players from the Sept. 21-22 qualifying tournament. The championships also include a doubles qualifying tournament and a pre-qualifying singles tournament.

TTU