Chang Stuns Rolex Field With Second-Place Finish

Albert Chang took this summer off. He took chemistry instead of tennis.

One of a slew of sensational juniors on the men's tennis team, Chang returned to Beren Tennis Center this fall and could not hit the ball in the court.

"I was getting shellacked by everyone," Chang said.

So it came as no surprise that it was Chang's teammates--Mike Shyjan and Mike Zimmerman--who shared the Crimson limelight for most of the fall tennis season that ended at the Rolex Intercollegiate Regional Tennis Championship in Princeton, N.J., last weekend.

It came as no surprise that Zimmerman was seeded first in the tournament featuring the nation's top college players, and that defending tournament champion Shyjan was seeded second. The Crimson's Derek Brown, Ian Williams, John Tolmie and Captain Jon Cardi were also ushered into the main draw.

It came as no surprise that Chang was forced to win two matches in the qualifying round before even being considered for the main draw. Harvard players Ravi Kumar and Brent LaTanzi also qualified.

Then, things got surprising.

Top-seeded Zimmerman was knocked off by unseeded Mark Booras in third-round action.

Brown made it all the way to the Crimson-dominated semifinals, where three of the four contestants called Harvard home.

And Chang kept winning.

In round one, Chang beat the top player from West Virginia, Joran Bequell, 6-2, 6-0, to begin a string of victories that would see him travel farther than any of his more highly touted teammates--all the way to the finals, where he lost in three sets to fifth-seeded Matt Semler of Dartmouth.

Getting Better All the Time

Along the way, Chang also dismantled the best offerings of Princeton, Penn and Cornell.

"Albert just kept getting better and better," Harvard Coach Dave Fish said.

Chang's winning streak continued in the semifinals, where he downed teammate and roommate Shyjan, 6-3, 2-6, 7-5.

"I found the match emotionally stressful," said Chang, who had played Shyjan only once before in tournament action--when the two were freshmen and barely acquaintances.

"We were on serve until 5-all," Chang said of his third-set victory, "but I broke him off two double faults and then all I had to do was hold to win."

That done, Chang looked to the surprising task of facing Semler in the finals--surprising because, after having taken the summer off from tennis, Chang did not expect to return to peak form until next year. It was less than a month ago that he was having trouble keeping the ball in the Beren confines.

The upset of Shyjan would prove to be the highlight of Chang's comeback tournament. Chang fell victim to "a mental lapse" in the finals, losing to Semler by a 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 score.

"I was tired," Chang said. "It was my eighth match in six days. But I have to say that this tournament exceeded my wildest dreams."