W. Tennis’ Bergman Excels at Leary Invitational

The Harvard women’s tennis team doesn’t start team competition until the second semester, so it looks like junior co-captain Courtney Bergman will just take care of business by herself until then.

Bergman—who begins the singles season ranked No. 25 in the country and No. 24 in doubles along with partner, classmate and co-captain Susanna Lingman—stole the Crimson spotlight at the Leary Invitational last weekend at the University of Pennsylvania, finishing second in the singles division while advancing to the semifinals in doubles.

Bergman, ranked fourth in the draw, advanced to the quarterfinals without encountering any serious difficulties, passing through the first round on a bye before a straight set victory and a walkover resulting from an opponent’s injury.

“I had to fly in early Friday morning, which made it kind of tough to play a match at one,” Bergman said. “I didn’t feel super prepared...I think I just started playing pretty well right off the bat. I just played smart I guess.”

But Minnesota’s Angela Buergis, who was seeded fifth, threatened to derail Bergman just as she began hit her stride.

Buergis decisively captured the first set of their match 6-1, breaking serve three times and never offering even the smallest window of opportunity for Bergman to climb through.

“I played a girl who had a really strong forehand and a weaker backhand,” she said. “I started off slow and wasn’t playing as smart as I would like to have.”

But with the changeover preceding the second set came a switch in momentum as well, and when play resumed, Buergis didn’t stand a chance.

Seizing control of the pace of play, Bergman distanced herself from her earlier performance and dominated for the final two sets, winning 1-6, 6-3, 6-2.

“You never really want to lose the first set,” Bergman said. “But just because you’ve lost the first set doesn’t mean you’re out of it. I knew I was better than the other girl.”

From then until the finals, there was no looking back.

Facing second-seeded Nataly Cahana of Old Dominion, Bergman showed none of the vulnerability displayed in the previous round.

“At one point she was like No. 4 in the country. She’s been around a long time,” Bergman said of Cahana, who is now ranked No. 22 in the country. “It was definitely a big match. I lost to her in a tough match last year.”

Matching her opponent’s stamina and court coverage point for point, Bergman overpowered Cahana and her one-handed backhand. Never threatened, Bergman lost just two games over the course of the match, advancing to the finals on the strength of a 6-1, 6-1 victory.

“Everything I did was working. I played really aggressive tennis and came into the net a lot,” Bergman said. “I was just dictating the whole match, but I was surprised to win 6-1, 6-1. We had good games, but it was just one of those days.”

But then Bergman’s strength gave out.

Tulane’s Julie Smekodub—the third seed, defending champion and No. 23 in the nation—proved too much to handle after surrendering an early lead and the first set. Smekodub had coasted to the championship match, winning each of her previous matches in straight sets, including a 6-0, 6-0 victory in the semifinals.

“She was hitting really heavy balls,” Bergman said. “She’s definitely a good player.”

Smekodub earned her a second straight women’s title, 6-2, 7-5, and the distinction of being the only person to accomplish that feat in the tournament’s seven-year history.

“I definitely need to work on some things from that match,” Bergman said. “She hit a lot of looping balls that I would’ve liked to have stepped in on. I didn’t play as solidly as I would’ve liked to at all.”

More disquieting for the Harvard contingent than Bergman’s untimely defeat was the inability of any other singles players to advance beyond the second round.

Junior Alexis Martire—tournament sixth seed and No. 69 nationally—failed to win a single match, advancing courtesy of a bye before being easily upset by Northwestern’s Ruth Barnes 6-2, 6-1.

Sophomore and ninth seed Melissa Anderson began the tournament promisingly, crushing her first round opponent 6-4, 6-0. But she became bogged down in a difficult second round match, falling 5-7, 6-3, 6-4.

“It was a really tough match and it was really tight,” Anderson said. “We were pretty much neck-and-neck the entire way. We actually had pretty similar game styles all around. But I’ve just come back from injury so my serve’s not working that well.”

Anderson wasn’t the only one hampered by lingering injury. Several players returning from last year’s team are still attempting to rest up after their lengthened post-season run.

“Most people are coming out of injury,” Anderson said. “We had a pretty long tough season last spring because of how far we went in NCAAs, so over the summer lots of people were trying to recuperate.”

The results in the doubles bracket, on the other hand, were far more encouraging as each Crimson pairing—with the exception of the Bergman-Lingman team—was defeated by a more highly ranked opponent.

The top seed in the draw, the co-captains coasted early on, losing just six games through the first three rounds.

“We didn’t play people that were that great,” Bergman said. “But we haven’t played together much.”

Aside from being apart over the summer months, Lingman was kept out of action for most of the off-season after undergoing surgery to remove ovarian cysts that later proved to be benign.

“This was a good tournament to get playing together,” Bergman said. “We played a really solid match. We played really aggressively and we were serving well.”

But Bergman and Lingman hit an unexpected bump in the road during the semifinal round. The Gophers’ doubles team of Buergis and Nischela Reddy exacted a measure of revenge for Bergman’s three-set semifinal victory over Buergis, rubbing out the favorites 8-5.

“It was closer than [the score indicated],” Bergman said. “We were down 5-2 at one point and we came back.”

The Minnesota tandem took the initiative from the beginning of the match, forcing Harvard to respond rather than dictate the pace of play.

“We could’ve attacked a little more [and] not played from the baseline as much,” Bergman said. “A lot of the time [Buergis] was hitting very heavy forehands, and it was hard for me to cross when Susanna was in a rally with her.”

Eighth seeds Martire and sophomore Eva Wang rolled through their first two round as well, dropping two and three games, respectively, along the way.

But the duo would advance no further, upended by eventual champions Tulane’s Smekodub and Darya Ivanov, 8-3.

Anderson, who teamed with freshman Preethia Mukundan, came out with a full head of steam in the opening round, defeating a clearly overmatched Northwestern squad, 8-2. But Buergis and Reddy were next in the draw and took that match 8-3.

“I guess with our doubles just being a new pair we have to learn to work well

together, be more aggressive against the top teams, take every opportunity,” Anderson said. “I think that’ll come through the fall season.”

—Crimson staff writer Timothy J. McGinn can be reached at mcginn@fas.harvard.edu.