SPORTS BRIEF: All-Crimson final secures Wetzel singles berth at ITAs

After facing off in an all-Harvard doubles final Monday night at the Wilson/ITA Northeast Regional Tournament, co-captain Jonathan Chu and senior Martin Wetzel won their respective semifinal matches yesterday morning to ensure that a Crimson player would take home the singles championship as well.

But after a grueling five days of tennis, neither player was eager to spend another three sets worth of energy on a match against a teammate. Instead, Chu defaulted to Wetzel—making the recently crowned doubles champion the singles champion as well.

“[Chu and Wetzel not playing] seemed to be in the best interests of our team,” said Harvard head coach Dave Fish ’72. “They could have played but it wouldn’t have been good for either player. There wasn’t anything to be gained by beating up on each other.”

By reaching the finals, both players earned a spot at the ITA National Indoors Championships in Ann Arbor, Mich.

Technically, however, the automatic bids were contingent upon the finals being played—if either player did not participate, he forfeited his bid.

Fortunately, Chu had already earned his bid by reaching the quarterfinals of the Icy Hot All-American Tournament two weeks ago, and so he could default to Wetzel without worry.

Wetzel reached the finals with a dominating win over Jan Krejci of Stony Brook. After taking the first set 6-4, Wetzel broke twice, unleashing a stream of booming serves and solid groundstrokes to win the second 6-2.

Chu topped his opponent in equally convincing fashion, eliminating Colgate’s Reed Hagmann 6-1, 6-4.

“Jon was extremly poised,” Fish said. “He came up with the goods.”

Chu, Wetzel, and co-captain Jason Beren—Wetzel’s doubles partner—will begin play at the national championships in Michigan Nov. 4.

—KARAN LODHA