March 9, 2005
Indian Wells, Calif. - Despite being a Pepperdine junior, Pedro Rico competed in the ATP Pacific Life Open Wednesday at Indian Wells, Calif. in the qualifying singles tournament. Rico fell to tour veteran Jeff Salzenstein, 6-3, 7-5.
Pepperdine head coach Adam Steinberg said, "Pedro did a great job; he played terrific tennis." Rico's coach also added that he played right with the pro and wasn't intimidated at all by the occasion.
The Pacific Life Open touts a field of the world's top players including No. 1 Roger Federer, Lleyton Hewitt, Andy Roddick and Andre Agassi. Rico got his name into the mix as a wild card entrant after he won the National Collegiate Tennis Classic at Indian Wells in January. The All-American's current Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) ranking is No. 17.
Rico drew a tough seed going up against Salzenstein, who turned pro in 1996 and has been ranked as high as No. 68 on the ATP. In the match Rico started slow, being broken early in the first set to go down 3-0. Though it was the only time Rico wouldn't hold serve in the set, it was enough for Salzenstein to win 6-3.
Seizing control of the second set early, Rico recorded a service break of his own to take the 3-0 advantage, but Salzenstein made his run to knot the second set at three all. With Rico looking to force a third set things were looking good for the Alicante, Spain native, but at 5-5 the nine-year pro took Rico's service game for the 6-5 edge. With Salzenstein serving for the match, Rico fought off one match point at 40-30, but could not force a tiebreaker as Salzenstein advanced with a 7-5 second set.
Salzenstein will next face Bjorn Phau who advanced Wednesday with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Sergio Roitman.
"I think this will help Pedro for the second half of our season and springboard him esspecially this weekend," said Steingberg. The 19th-ranked Waves will be in Berkeley this weekend for two matches against top competition. Pepperdine will play No. 22 TCU at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday and No. 31 Cal at 1:00 on Sunday.
