Second seed Brian Baker (Nashville, TN) and 22nd seed Travis Rettenmaier (Fountain Valley, CA) produced one of the most entertaining matches of the tournament on Thursday. "This will be the best match of the day," tournament Director Timon Corwin advised tournament volunteers before the match. His words proved prophetic, as the three-set battle lasted nearly three hours and provided a loud afternoon crowd plenty of heart-stopping drama.

Baker broke twice early in the first set for a 5-1 lead, and it looked as if he might avoid the searing afternoon heat with a routine victory. But Rettenmaier held, then broke back to cut the lead to 5-3. Down love-40 in his next service game, Baker was in danger of losing his advantage to the net-charging Rettenmaier, but he won five straight points to close out the first set 6-3.

In the second set, Rettenmaier jumped out to a 3-0 lead early, before Baker got his return game going and forced a tie-break. Baker took the first four points of the tie-break; Rettenmaier won the next five. Down 7-6, Rettenmaier hit a service winner to save one match point. Rettenmaier won the tie-break 10-8, and the now-partisan crowd erupted with cheers.

Rettenmaier once again jumped out to an early lead in the third set. With Baker serving down 4-2, Rettenmaier quickly took a 40-0 lead. Baker once again won five points in row to win the game, and then broke Rettenmaier the next game to knot the set at 4-4. Baker had two match points on Rettenmaier's serve at 5-4, but the Californian held and then broke Baker in the following game. Up 6-5 and serving for the match, the 22nd seed called a trainer to the court for treatment, and his momentum may have ebbed during those few minutes, as he missed all five of his first serves and lost the game to send the match to a tiebreak. Baker dominated the tie-break, hitting three winners, one ace, and committing no unforced errors to take it 7-1.

Though the match was close, the players' grade levels couldn't be further apart. Baker will be a junior at Hillwood High School in Nashville TN, while Rettenmaier is entering his junior year at UCLA, where he played number 3 and 4 singles last year.

In other 18s quarterfinal action, 10th seed Lester Cook (Van Nuys, CA) scored a routine 6-2, 6-1 victory over 13th seed Sam Warburg (Sacramento, CA).

In 16 singles, two players advanced easily to Saturday's Semi Finals. 4th seed Brendan Evans (Key Biscayne, FL) cruised past 7th seed Justin Montgomery (Oxnard, CA) by the score of 6-1, 6-3. 5th seed Wayne Odesnik (Weston, FL) scored an easy 6-2, 6-0 victory over unseeded 14-year-old Scoville Jenkins (Atlanta, GA). Evans will play Odesnik in the Semi Finals.

Source: Matt