Blake, Majmudar Alive At All-America Tourney

Neither rain nor sleet nor snow would keep All-American James Blake from living up to that adjective.

Blake, the top player on Harvard's men's tennis team, left his mark all over this weekend's ITA All-American tournament, the biggest national competition of the fall season.

Unfortunately, the rain in Texas that left much of the state struggling to stay above water also took its toll on the event hosted by the University of Texas at Austin. As a result, the tournament has been extended at least another day as semifinal play begins today.

Harvard's two entries in the draw highlight the impressive skills of sophomore Blake. In the singles draw Blake was seeded No. 2 heading into the tournament and heading into today's quarterfinal match-up with Stanford's Ryan Wolters.

In the doubles draw, Harvard's team of Blake and co-captain Kunj Majmudar has been more of an upset special- ist. In a draw in which no seeded team reachedthe semifinals, Harvard upset Duke's Doug Root andJordan Wile, the second-seeded team.

Blake cruised into yesterday's quarterfinalmatch with Virginia Tech's Aaron Marchettifundamentally untested. Having defeated his Hokieopponent and former teammate from the USTAAll-American Summer Team the previous Sunday inthe finals of the ECAC Team Championships (3-6,6-4, 7-5), Blake had to know he was in for a toughmatch.

Marchetti provided just that, even though hehad been forced to play his quarterfinal matchearlier in the day. Once again the two split thefirst sets although this time Blake jumped outearly.

Blake took the tight first set with a 7-4 winin the tiebreaker. Marchetti bounced back with aquick 6-2 win in the second set-the first setBlake had dropped in singles play all tournament.However, as he has done all season, Blake turnedup the heat in the deciding set and closedMarchetti out 6-2 in the third.

The win set up today's semifinal match-up withWolters. Wolters was the No. 4 player on lastseason's undefeated NCAA Championship Stanfordteam.

Blake got to the quarterfinals by dominatingweaker opponents in the opening rounds.

On Saturday Blake had to battle through anothertough first set against Southern Methodist's (SMU)Ignacio Hirigoya, but closed things out after adominating second set for a 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 win.

Friday found Blake facing Tom Chicoine ofMinnesota. The Golden Gopher was sent backunderground after a 6-4, 6-3 win from Blake.

The tournament got off to a crisp start forBlake with a 6-4, 6-1 defeat of Arizona State'sJeff Williams.

The doubles draw was a wild one from the get-goand the Harvard team of Blake and Majmudar playedtheir part to a "T."

In yesterday's quarterfinals, the Crimson squadknocked out the last of the seeded teams bydropping the Blue Devils team of Root and Wile.The second-seeded Duke team jumped out early inthe first set 6-3, but the Harvard team wasundaunted.

Majmudar, who injured his back in last week'sECAC Tournament, proved that he had recoveredquite well and helped his team to come back andtake the next two sets 6-2, 6-4 for the win.Having a rain-induced day off for the doubles drawon Saturday kept the busy Blake and the injuredMajmudar in top physical shape for the effort.

The win set up Harvard's semifinalB-6TENNI

Blake cruised into yesterday's quarterfinalmatch with Virginia Tech's Aaron Marchettifundamentally untested. Having defeated his Hokieopponent and former teammate from the USTAAll-American Summer Team the previous Sunday inthe finals of the ECAC Team Championships (3-6,6-4, 7-5), Blake had to know he was in for a toughmatch.

Marchetti provided just that, even though hehad been forced to play his quarterfinal matchearlier in the day. Once again the two split thefirst sets although this time Blake jumped outearly.

Blake took the tight first set with a 7-4 winin the tiebreaker. Marchetti bounced back with aquick 6-2 win in the second set-the first setBlake had dropped in singles play all tournament.However, as he has done all season, Blake turnedup the heat in the deciding set and closedMarchetti out 6-2 in the third.

The win set up today's semifinal match-up withWolters. Wolters was the No. 4 player on lastseason's undefeated NCAA Championship Stanfordteam.

Blake got to the quarterfinals by dominatingweaker opponents in the opening rounds.

On Saturday Blake had to battle through anothertough first set against Southern Methodist's (SMU)Ignacio Hirigoya, but closed things out after adominating second set for a 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 win.

Friday found Blake facing Tom Chicoine ofMinnesota. The Golden Gopher was sent backunderground after a 6-4, 6-3 win from Blake.

The tournament got off to a crisp start forBlake with a 6-4, 6-1 defeat of Arizona State'sJeff Williams.

The doubles draw was a wild one from the get-goand the Harvard team of Blake and Majmudar playedtheir part to a "T."

In yesterday's quarterfinals, the Crimson squadknocked out the last of the seeded teams bydropping the Blue Devils team of Root and Wile.The second-seeded Duke team jumped out early inthe first set 6-3, but the Harvard team wasundaunted.

Majmudar, who injured his back in last week'sECAC Tournament, proved that he had recoveredquite well and helped his team to come back andtake the next two sets 6-2, 6-4 for the win.Having a rain-induced day off for the doubles drawon Saturday kept the busy Blake and the injuredMajmudar in top physical shape for the effort.

The win set up Harvard's semifinalB-6TENNI