WIESBADEN-NORDENSTADT, Germany — The first No. 1 seeds to fall in the 2006 DODDS-Europe high school tennis championships were knocked out Friday.

But they weren’t taken out by just anyone.

Heidelberg’s Sam Pohl and Blair Martin, the defending boys doubles champions but seeded fourth this year, knocked off top-seeded Matt Puchta and Shawn Kelley of Ramstein 6-3, 6-1 in the semifinals of the three-day event that ends Saturday at the Vitis Tennis Center just outside this Wiesbaden suburb.

Pohl and Martin, who haven’t lost a set in the tournament, were seeded No. 4 because they had played only one doubles match together this season.

“I was planning on doing singles this year,” Pohl said. “We found out Sunday there would be no wild cards, so we entered doubles.”

Pohl needed a wild card because he’s on the same team as top-seeded Nick Garcia, who has been unbeatable this season.

Pohl and Martin, who defeated the No. 5 seeds from International School of Brussels 6-0, 6-2 in Friday morning’s quarterfinals, said they had little trouble re-establishing the links that led them to the 2005 title.

“It felt like we hadn’t missed a set,” Martin said.

Martin and Pohl said their low seeding made the road to the final more difficult.

“It was a tough draw,” Pohl said, “but we know where our games are right now.”

When Martin and Pohl take on Kaiserslautern’s duo of Devin Smith and Chris Lucynski in Saturday’s final, they believe they’ll be helped by their winning experience last year.

“We’ve been here before,” Martin said. “We know how to feel.”

Smith and Lucynski, the No. 3 seeds, are coming off a 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (7-4) victory over Patch’s second-seeded Sean Crowley and Maurice Rolle.

In boys singles, Garcia set up a finals showdown on Saturday against defending champion Claudio Giraldi of SHAPE.

Garcia lost only one game in winning his quarterfinal and semifinal matches Friday; Giraldi, seeded second after losing to Garcia in straight sets two weeks ago, lost only three games in his quarterfinal and semifinal wins.

[/BODY]In the girls doubles, top-seeded Jackie Ventrice and Lindsey Jones of Ramstein needed two tiebreakers to eliminate the No. 4 seeds from International School of Brussels, Lidia Valdes and Natsuko Matsui.

Ventrice and Jones will take on the No. 2 duo of Katie Foxworth and Nancy Jensen, who finished third here last year, in the final.

Top-seeded Krista Citkovska of SHAPE continued her drive toward a second straight singles crown. She won her quarterfinal and semifinal matches at love, and hasn’t dropped a game this season. Her final opponent, second-seeded Jennica Botonis of Bitburg, on Friday had to get by her second surprise opponent from Italy in this tournament.

Unseeded Vittoria Musotto of Milan stunned No. 3 Allison Luthman of Ramstein 7-6 (7-4), 2-6, 6-4 in Friday’s quarterfinals, then downed the unbeaten Botonis 7-6 (9-7) in the first set of their semifinal. However, Botonis, who also lost a tiebreaker to Maria La Via of American Overseas School of Rome on Thursday, roared back to win the final two sets 6-0, 6-2.

European high school tennis championshipsWIESBADEN-NORDENSTADT, Germany —Second-day championship-bracket results Friday from the three-day 2006 European high school tennis championships being played at the Vitis Tennis Center here and at the Hochheim Tennis Center in Hochheim and the Medenhalle Tennis Center in Medenbach. Matches are best-of-three sets. (Seedings in parentheses.) Final play begins at 8 a.m. Saturday at Vitis Tennis Center only:

Girls singles

Quarterfinals—Krista Citkovska (1, SHAPE) def. Lucrezia Bisignani (Marymount) 6-0, 6-0; Chelsea Cotter (4, Heidelberg) def. Jemela McKinzy (5, Wiesbaden) 6-3, 3-6, 6-3; Vittoria Musotto (Milan) def. Allison Luthman (3, Ramstein) 7-6 (7-4), 2-6, 6-4; Jennica Botonis (2, Bitburg) def. Isabelle Ignacio (Baumholder) 6-1, 6-2.

Semifinals—Citkovska def. Cotter 6-0, 6-0; Botonis def. Musotto 6-7 (7-9), 6-0, 6-2.

Girls doubles

Quarterfinals—Jackie Ventrice and Lindsey Jones (1, Ramstein) def. Holly Goldie and Colleen McMaster (London Central) 6-0, 6-0; Lidia Valdes and Natsuko Matsui (4, Int’l School of Brussels) def. Jennifer Wheeler and Sarah Rosenstein (Mannheim) 6-0, 6-1; Tamara Oppliger and Michelle Whitbeck (3, Patch) def. Crystal Steltenpohl and Heather Acre (AFNORTH) 6-1, 6-2; Katie Foxworth and Nancy Jensen (2, Wiesbaden) def. Carmen Fucillo and Valerie D’Alterio (American Overseas School of Rome) 6-0, 6-3.

Semifinals—Ventrice and Jones def. Valdes and Matsui 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-3); Foxworth and Jensen def. Oppliger and Whitbeck 6-0, 6-3.

Boys singles

Quarterfinals—Nick Garcia (1, Heidelberg) def. Zach Heath (Bitburg) 6-0, 6-0; Claudio Giraldi (2, SHAPE) def. Mike Sexton (Patch) 6-1, 6-0; Sean Stockstad (4, Ramstein) def. Edouard Van Der Mersch (5, Int’l School of Brussels) 6-0, 6-2; Ryan Umstaedter (6, Naples) def. Andrew Duque (Bamberg) 6-1, 6-0.

Semifinals—Garcia def. Stokstad 6-0, 6-1; Giraldi def. Umstaedter 6-1, 6-2.

Boys doubles

Quarterfinals—Matt Puchta and Shawn Kelley (1, Ramstein) def. Paul Moseman and Andrew Gagnon (Brussels) 6-4, 6-2; Sam Pohl and Blair Martin (4, Heidelberg) def. Yun-Chul Cho and Shota Morisaka (5, Int’l School of Brussels) 6-0, 6-2; Sean Crowley and Maurice Rolle (2, Patch) def. Will Barton and Randy Lintz (Vicenza) 6-1, 6-0; Devin Smith and Chris Lucynski (3, Kaiserslautern) def. Chad Roberson and Eric Hernandez (6, Bitburg) 6-1, 6-1.

Semifinals—Pohl and Martin def. Puchta and Kelley 6-3, 6-1; Smith and Lucynski def. Crowley and Rolle 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (7-4).

Michael Abrams / S&S

Top seeded Nick Garcia of Heidelberg (above) reached the boys final with a 6-0, 6-1 victory over Ramstein’s Sean Stokstad.

Michael Abrams / S&S

Bitburg’s Jennica Botonis slams a return to Milan’s Vittoria Musotto during a 6-7 (7-9), 6-0, 6-2 semifinal victory that put her in Saturday’s championship match against defending champ Krista Citkovska of SHAPE.

Michael Abrams / S&S

Defending girls champion Krista Citkovska of SHAPE advanced to this year’s final with a 6-0, 6-0 victory in the semifinals over Heidelberg’s Chelsea Cotter in Wiesbaden, Germany, on Friday.

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