Crimson Pair Loses in NCAA Doubles

Todd Lundy and Andy Chaikovsky were eliminated from the doubles competition of the NCAA tennis championships at Athens, Ga. yesterday, dropping their first match of the tournament to South Carolina's Chris Mayotte and Art Anastoupolo, 7-6, 6-3.

Lundy will remain in the tournament, playing his first-round single match against Southern Methodist's Haroon Ismaiol today.

The Crimson's number one doubles team never got in the groove in their match with the Gamecocks. All-American Mayotte hit the ball hard and deep all day long, and Lundy and Chaikovsky returned play solidly but not particularly sharply throughout the match.

"We didn't return serve well," Chaikovsky said last night, "and Anastoupolo's serve should have been eaten up. We just weren't real sharp."

Things opened inauspiciously when the Gamecock duo broke Lundy's serve in the first game of the match. The Crimson broke back at 2-1, and the set proceeded on serve until the score reached 6-all, forcing a nine-point tiebreaker.

The Crimson took the first point, dropped the next three, then split points on Chaikovsky's serve. Mayotte closed out the set on the first of three potential serves, and South Carouna had the tiebreaker (5-2) and the set (7-6).

Mayotte and Anastoupolo broke Lundy's service twice in the second set to cruise home to the 6-3 victory on the slow courts.

"We definitely should have beaten them," Chaikovsky said last night.

But beat them they did not, and Harvard's hopes for a strong NCAA showing now rest on Lundy's singles efforts.

Ismaiol, a native of Pakistan, should provide some strong first-round compeition in the 64-draw event, but Lundy figures to win.

"He's good," the senior captain said last night, "but he's definitely beatable."