Favored M. Tennis Stumbles at Invite

After a disappointing first two days at the Blue-Gray Tennis National Tennis Classic in Montgomery, Ala., the No. 15 Harvard’s men’s tennis team fought back and got a win on Saturday.

Although it was one of the favored teams entering the four-day competition, the Crimson was realistic.

“We knew coming in that we were playing without Martin Wetzel,” said freshman Dan Nguyen. “We knew we would have to play hard.”

The team learned that it still have a lot to work on.

On Thursday, Harvard had lost to No. 59 Fresno State, 4-2. The Crimson did not fare much better on Friday, losing to the No. 75 University of Colorado, 4-3.

However, Saturday’s match against No. 64 Old Dominion was a bright spot, as the bottom half of the line up proved its mettle and secured the victory.

By “applying what [it] learned over the past two days,” said Harvard coach Dave Fish ’72, the team was able to leave Alabama one a winning note.

HARVARD 4, OLD DOMINION 2

On Saturday, “we were hungry for a victory,” junior Brandon Chiu said.

And though it had to fight until the end, Harvard was able to end its weekend with a victory.

The top doubles team of Chiu and captain Jonathan Chu took its match, 8-4.

The third doubles team also won, giving Harvard the doubles point and a 1-0 advantage.

The team faltered after this early success and began “struggling in singles,” according to Fish.

The top two singles players lost their matches—freshman Ashwin Kumar, in the second slot, lost 6-1, 7-5 to the same person he had beaten just last week.

As the Crimson trailed by one point, the bottom four singles players all went to third sets, making for an exciting but nerve-wracking evening.

Fortunately, the bottom half was able to pull through. Sophomore Shantanu Dhaka was treated for an injury, so he did not finish the fourth match, but Nguyen won 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, tying the overall match score.

“Then Brandon [Chiu] capped off the victory,” Fish said. “It was very exciting.”

Chui fought hard, winning the first set, 6-3, but dropping the second, 6-4. In the third set, he was able to break his opponent at four-all and then serve out the match—and clinch the Harvard victory.

“I finished the last match, and that was the first time I had done that,” Chiu said. “It was great to have the support of my team.”

COLORADO 4, HARVARD 3

Coming off a disappointing loss the day before, Harvard managed a quick start against Colorado.

Chu and Chiu took their doubles match 8-5, while sophomore Gideon Valkin and Nguyen lost the third contest, 8-6.

The middle duo of Dhaka and Kumar triumphed to secure the doubles point for the Crimson, but after this intiial success, Harvard began to falter.

An injured Chu battled through the top singles match but fell in two sets, 6-4, 6-1.

Kumar also lost in straight sets, 6-1, 7-5, and the Crimson fell behind 2-1.

Chui took the fifth singles contest in straight sets, tying the score at two, and Dhaka mounted a three-set comeback to push the Crimson ahead, 3-2.

It was up to Valkin or Nguyen to clinch the victory, then, but neither pulled through.

Valkin had lost his first set in a tiebreak, but after countering with a 6-1 win of the second set, he lost momentum and fell 6-3 in the third.

Nguyen also battled his way through three sets, but only to find the same result as Valkin.