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Surprise quarterfinalist exits tournament after a victory

Friday, July 06, 2001

By Phil Axelrod, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

Who is Brett Warren and how did he become a central character in one of the most bizarre developments in the history of the West Penn/National Collegiate Clay Court Championships?

Warren, who will be a senior this fall at Pine-Richland High School, rode a roller coaster of mixed emotions yesterday at the Mt. Lebanon Tennis Courts, experiencing the exhilaration of playing in the quarterfinals in men's singles, the frustration of being soundly thrashed, the shock of getting a victory when his opponent retired on match point and the embarrassment and disappointment of having to default from the tournament because of a family vacation.

	Brett Warren serves to Josef Fischer in their quarterfinal match. (Bob Donaldson, Post-Gazette)

Josef Fischer, the No. 8 seed from Florida, shook Warren's hand and walked off the court with a 6-2, 5-1 lead. Moments later, Warren informed the tournament desk that he, too, was going to default. Warren wouldn't be able to play in today's semifinal match because he and his family were scheduled to leave last night on vacation.

Warren's default moved No. 6 Brad Stokke, a 3-6, 6-2, 7-6 (5) winner against No. 3 Jason Hazley, into the final Sunday.

No. 2 Mark Riddell will face unseeded Ben Kirksey in the only semifinal today.

Warren, 17, said he was planning to retire against Fischer if he had reached a match point so that Fischer could advance.

"It's almost ironic it turned out the way it did, but there's nothing I can do. You have to set your priorities, and my family comes first," Warren said. "When he retired, he told me that he was injured. It seemed to me that he just had some other [tournament] to go to."

Fischer left to go to Peoria, Ill., to try to qualify for a Futures tournament.

Warren's week began innocently enough when he received a bye in the first round Monday. On Tuesday, he upset No. 1 seed B.J. Munroe, 7-6 (5), 6-4. On Wednesday, he defeated Brian Nachtigall, 6-1, 6-1.

"Not even in my wildest dreams did I expect this," said Warren, who had never advanced beyond the second round in three previous appearances in the tournament. "I came in this year thinking this is just to get some experience and some good practice."

That's why Warren didn't even give it a second thought when his family made vacation plans several months ago.

"I never thought something like this would happen," he said, sheepishly. "I couldn't expect to have this conflict. I definitely have to say I like clay over any other surface because I like to stay back, but ..."

He didn't complete the sentence.

"I'm surprised, you could say that," he said. "It's all pretty bizarre."

Warren was the runner-up in the WPIAL Class AAA tournament and reached the quarterfinals of the PIAA tournament this year. He won the WPIAL championship and was PIAA runner-up as a freshman and sophomore, when Pine-Richland competed on the Class AA level.

"I had a pretty good year," said Warren, who is headed to Louisville, Ky., later this month to play in the national clay court junior championships.

The loss of Warren and Fischer in the upper half of the men's bracket left Don Mercer, the tournament director, nearly speechless.

"This is a first," he said, forcing a smile. "Now I need to come up with a new term for what happened. Maybe I'll call it double trouble for the tournament director."

In women's singles, top-seeded Mariko Fritz Krocklow of UCLA, No. 2 Jessica Johnson (Sewickley and Marshall), No. 3 Kristen James, a high school player from Clifton, Va., and unseeded Jeannette Cluskey of the University of Richmond advanced to the semifinals today. No. 4 Alice Sukner (Allderdice and Marshall) lost to Cluskey in the quarterfinals, 7-5, 6-3.

Futures of Pittsburgh

Top seed Jaymon Crabb defeated No. 8 Bjorn Jacob, 7-6 (4), 6-3, and No. 2 Mark Nielsen beat unseeded Travis Parrott, 6-4, 7-6 (5), to advance to today's quarterfinals of the $10,000 Futures of Pittsburgh. The semifinals will be tomorrow and the final Sunday.