Youth is Served for Ghazal and Broughton

Sometimes youth can be a good thing.

John F. Kennedy '40 defeated Richard M. Nixon in the first televised presidential debate thanks to youthful good looks and a lot of energy.

Much like Kennedy, the Harvard women's tennis team has seen its young players rising to the occasion.

Freshman Fleur Broughton and Sophomore Sanaz Ghazal teamed to reach the doubles semifinals of the Princeton Invitational this past weekend.

"It was a pretty encouraging tournament," Ghazal said.

The duo lost the semifinal match to a pair from Syracuse, 8-3.

"We played against quite a tough team," Broughton said. "Next time should be a lot better."

The main problem for the Crimson pair was a slow start that proved insurmountable.

"In the semis, we got down pretty early and we weren't able to recover."

The earlier matches were easy picking for the Crimson.

"In our first two matches, we were playing very solid doubles," Ghazal said.

The first round match was an 8-0 victory over a team from Temple.

That match was followed by a quarterfinal contest against a Boston College duo. team. Ghazal and Broughton handled the Eagles, 8-4.

"We played really well together," Broughton said. "It's really started to click. I'm happy with the way we're playing."

That is mostly attributable to the fundamentals of the game, according to Ghazal.

"We had a high percentage of first serves, returns and volleys," Ghazal said. "We were doing the basics very well."

Ghazal and Broughton were the only Crimson players to travel to the tournament because Harvard was only allotted two positions.

Ghazal won her first singles match before losing in the next round. Broughton lost in the first round.

Ghazal and Broughton have been playing together since the beginning of the year and have been consistently playing No. 2 doubles for the Crimson. But the team doesn't find complacency in that fact.

"As always, there is more improvement to be made," Broughton said.