Feb. 9, 2011

SAN JOSE, Calif.- Stanford's top doubles team of juniors Bradley Klahn and Ryan Thacher won their opening-round match Tuesday evening at the 2011 SAP Open and will now likely play Thursday or Friday in the quarterfinals.

One of two wild card teams in the doubles draw, Klahn and Thacher outlasted the No. 3-seeded tandem of Dustin Brown and Rogier Wassen 6-3, 6-7 (6), 1-0 (10-5) in the first round.

Next up for Klahn and Thacher is a quarterfinal matchup against Alejandro Falla and Xavier Malisse.

Klahn and Thacher did not compete in Stanford's 7-0 win over Utah yesterday afternoon at the Taube Family Tennis Stadium, and instead were preparing for their SAP Open match at the same time the Cardinal was improving to 5-0 with a victory over the Utes.

Klahn and Thacher have won five doubles titles together, most recently at this year's Sherwood Cup. The duo reached the semifinals of last year's NCAA Doubles Championship.

Meanwhile, a reminder that Klahn will be in action Wednesday night when first-round singles play continues. Klahn will square off against 12th-ranked and No. 2 seed Gael Monfils of France during the night session, playing the second match after the first scheduled contest at 7 p.m.

An All-American in both singles and doubles, Klahn defeated Louisville's Austen Childs 6-1, 6-2 en route to winning last year's NCAA Singles championship, capturing Stanford's 14th collegiate singles title and first since 2000. The Poway, Calif., native is a two-time All-Pac-10 First Team selection and was named the 2009 ITA National Rookie of the Year and 2009 Pac-10 Freshman of the Year.

Three weeks ago, Klahn won his second consecutive singles title at the Sherwood Cup and the fifth career singles championship of his career.

Making his SAP Open debut, Klahn is no stranger to elevating his game against the top professionals on tour. Back in late August, Klahn gave fellow American and No. 20 seed Sam Querrey a scare before dropping a 6-3, 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 decision during the first round of the 2010 U.S. Open.

Klahn, who received a wild card entry into the U.S. Open main draw after winning the 2010 NCAA Singles title, challenged Querrey for the majority of the match before a series of cramps affected his performance late in the contest. Overall, the match proved to be a great experience for Klahn, who also reached the round of 16 at the Junior Australian Open, Wimbledon, and U.S. Open in 2008.

This year's SAP Open field includes 2010 SAP Open champion Fernando Verdasco, 2009 U.S. Open champion Juan Martin Del Potro and former SAP Open champion Lleyton Hewitt.

The SAP Open will be played Feb. 7-13, 2010 at HP Pavilion at San Jose. Ticket packages and group tickets to the 2010 SAP Open are on-sale now by calling (408) ACE-2121. Additional information about the SAP Open can be found on the tournament website at www.sapopentennis.com.