M. Tennis Does Well at Tourney

The Wilson/ITA Northeast Regional Tournament served up quite a challenge for the Harvard men’s tennis team this weekend, but the Crimson fired right back, continuing its success and advancing two singles players and two doubles pairs to the quarterfinals.

“The courts are very quick down here,” said Harvard coach Dave Fish ’72. “It makes for some short points, and the ball is really moving fast.”

Having already qualified for the ITA National Indoor Championships in Ann Arbor, Mich., by reaching the quarterfinals at the Icy Hot All-American Tournament two weeks ago, this tournament was not make-or-break for co-captain Jonathan Chu. Despite the different conditions, the top-seeded Chu continued to excel, dropping only one set through yesterday.

“The courts are pretty tough to play on,” Chu said. “They’re pretty quick, the lights are not good and the air is pretty stuffy. But you’ve got to deal with what you’re given.”

Yesterday’s first singles match started off badly for Chu, as he dropped the first set to Hofstra’s Nikola Djordjevic. But he won the second-set tiebreak 7-4, and carried this momentum into the third set to take the match 4-6, 7-6 (4), 7-5. Chu then topped Princeton’s No. 1 player Darius Craton in straight sets to advance to the quarterfinals.

“The second match was actually tougher,” Chu said. “I’ve played Darius a bunch of times before, and he gave me a better ball to play against. But I was more awake and I played better [in the second match].”

In the doubles draw, the seventh-seeded pair of Chu and freshman Ashwin Kumar executed solidly in their Round of 16 match. Coming off its title run at the UVA Invitational, the duo held off a strong Dartmouth challenge, 8-6, after rolling 8-1 past a weaker St. John’s team in the Round of 32.

“Jonathan and Ashwin played some good doubles,” Fish said. “They’re pretty tough.”

“I know Ashwin and I were looking forward to playing in this tournament,” Chu said. “We were clicking well.”

In other doubles play, the sophomore-junior duo of Gideon Valkin and Brandon Chiu won its first match 8-3 before falling in the Round of 32. Meanwhile, co-captain Jason Beren and senior Martin Wetzel progressed into the quarterfinals with an impressive 8-4 win against a duo from Princeton, the No. 5 seed.

Wetzel also advanced to the quarterfinals in the singles draw, coming from behind to upset No. 6 seed Mario Arce in three sets.

“Martin is a very, very solid player,” said Chu. “We expect him to be a warrior day in, day out for us. Hopefully it’ll be an all-Harvard [singles] final.”

Kumar fell in the Round of 16 to Brandon Wai, Yale’s No. 1 player. In his previous match, Kumar saved four match points against Penn State’s James Dwyer and overcame a controversial call to win 4-6, 7-6 (4), 7-5.

In the third set, with Kumar up 5-4 and at match point, his opponent hit a passing shot wide, which Kumar called out. As both players approached the net, ready to shake hands, Dwyer asked the official if the shot might have been in. The official reversed Kumar’s call, declaring the shot in.

“[Dwyer] was coming to the net to shake my hand,” said Kumar. “He even took his wristband off. The guy was about to walk off the court. But the ref said it was in.”

After eventually losing that game, however, Kumar regrouped to take the third set.

In other singles action, Beren, Valkin and Chiu won their first-round matches before bowing out in the Round of 64.

“I was happy that our lower three players got through our first round matches,” Fish said. “Though Valkin lost in three sets, he didn’t do anything wrong. [His opponent] just stepped up and started hitting really good shots.”

After three days of grueling tennis, the Crimson will return to the fray today in an attempt to advance to the finals tomorrow.

“With the schoolwork, it’s easy to get exhausted,” said Harvard assistant coach Terry London. “As long as [the players] stay rested, the outlook is good.”