LONG BEACH, Calif. (Jan. 14, 2016) – Former Pepperdine No. 1 player Sebastian Fanselow upset his former college rival and No. 1-seeded Nick Meister on Thursday in the Round of 16 at the Long Beach Pro Futures Tournament, 6-4, 6-3, being held at the El Dorado Park Tennis Center.

The 24-year-old Fanselow is finally healthy and a permanent Southern California resident having moved back to the Calabasas area in September after spending two years in his native Germany but not able to play tennis during that time because of patellar tendonitis in his knee.

Following his match, the No. 528 world-ranked and unseeded Fanselow said, “This is the best I’ve felt in a whole lot of years.”

Fanselow played four years at Pepperdine and graduated in 2013 with a degree in Psychology. He is currently being coached by his former Waves assistant coach Jason Cook, who was on-site coaching him on Thursday.  

“I started my comeback in the summer of 2015, and Southern California just seemed to be the best place for me to based out of right now,” said Fanselow, who as a freshman played former UCLA Bruin Meister at No. 2 singles and as a junior tangled with him at No. 1 with the two splitting their meetings.

Two Southern California teenagers joined Fanselow in Friday’s quarterfinals as 19-year-olds Deiton Baughman (Carson) and Ernesto Escobedo (West Covina) both grew up just miles from where the tournament is taking place. The unseeded Baughman will play 18-year-old Michael Mmoh while No. 6-seeded Escobedo meets former USC All-American and Fanselow’s fellow countryman Yannick Hanfmann at 10 a. m.

In the doubles final on Friday, No. 3 seeds Evan King and Raymond Sarmiento will look to make it two Futures titles in a row as they face the top-seeded team of David O’Hare of Ireland and Joe Salisbury of Great Britain.