On paper, a straight-sets victory indicates a fairly easy match for the victor and a disheartening defeat for the loser.

In the NCAA men’s singles semifinal match between Virginia’s Jarmere Jenkins and Pepperdine’s Sebastian Fanselow, it was anything but easily decided.

Jenkins won in straight sets — both via tiebreaker — 7-6(1), 7-6(3) and advanced to the singles final Monday.

“That match was fun,” Jenkins said. “In two tiebreakers, I was able to step up and play really well in both of them.”

The match had a delay early in the first set because of rain. With the score 2-1 in Fanselow’s favor, the match moved indoors.

Both players excelled at defending his own serve and there were only two breaks for each player. With both players being able to consistently hold serve allowed tiebreaker finishes in both stanzas.

Jenkins was able to dominate the tiebreaker in the first set, reeling off six consecutive points in the frame to cruise to a 7-1 victory. In the second set, Fanselow was close to sending it to a third set. With a 6-5 lead, he held break and set point, but Jenkins ripped a forehand winner that caught line to send the game to deuce, where Jenkins would take the game.

In the second tiebreaker, Jenkins again started off quickly, pulling ahead 3-0 and 5-2. On match point, Fanselow’s return on  Jenkins’ second serve couldn’t stay in play and the match was over.

Sunday’s match was much more competitive than the duo’s previous encounter on Nov. 11. Jenkins took down Fanselow 6-2, 6-1, although he said the score didn’t indicate the competitive play.

“I feel like we were having the same kind of points as last time,” Jenkins said. “I was just getting more lucky breaks.”

In the other semifinal, Ohio State’s Blaz Rola coasted to a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Japie De Klerk of Tulsa. Rola was the heavy favorite as he was the No. 9 seed compared with the unseeded De Klerk.

“I was a little lucky with the draw, he was an unseeded player,” Rola said. “He had a great tournament, but I think was the favorite in that one.”

Rola quickly took control of the match in the first set, getting up by a break to go up 3-0 and breaking De Klerk to end the set at 6-2. In the second set, De Klerk fought hard and broke Rola twice to bring the score to 4-3. However, De Klerk couldn’t keep the run going and Rola broke back to make the score 5-3 and Rola would earn two aces in the final frame to close it out 6-3.

This was a much better semifinal for Rola than last year, where he lost to Kentucky’s Eric Quigley in three sets.

“I was thinking every year to go one round better,” the junior Rola said. “First year, quarterfinals then next year, semifinals, now, finals. I hope a can skip a year and get the title this year.”

Rola is 26-1 on the year in singles, with his only loss coming to Illinois freshman Jared Hiltzik. When Rola and Jenkins met Feb. 17, Rola came away with a 6-4, 6-2 victory.

Jenkins is looking for the singles title to go along with the team championship that Virginia earned Tuesday.

Stephen can be reached at [email protected] and @steve_bourbon.