M. Tennis Wins ECACs

The No. 2 Harvard’s men’s tennis team upset top-seeded Virginia Tech, 4-2, to win the ECAC championship, held this weekend at the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, N.Y. The tournament victory was clinched by No. 1 sophomore Jonathan Chu, who rallied from behind to defeat Virginia Tech’s No. 1, Saber Kadiri.

Earlier in the tournament, the Crimson beat St. Bonaventure in the first round and Columbia in the second, before dispatching No. 3 seed Brown in the semifinals.

The championship is the first since 1999 for Harvard, and clinches a spot for the Crimson in the National Team Indoor Championship in February.

“This win gives [us] lots of confidence through the rest of the fall,” said Harvard assistant coach Peter Mandeau. “It helped each player gain clarity to improve his game.”

In the final match of the tournament, the Crimson managed to stifle the Hokies’ dominance, who had gone 16-2 in tournament play. Going in to the fourth hour of play, Harvard led Virginia Tech 3-1. No. 5 George Turner and No. 6 junior Chris Chiou had both posted straight-set victories in their singles matches, and the Crimson had swept in the doubles.

But though Harvard only needed one more point to clinch a tournament victory, it was losing the three remaining singles matches. The last point to clinch the win came with Chu’s three-set nailbiter. Facing Kadiri, who defeated Chu last year in the ITA Regional championship, Chu saved two match points in the second set, and defeated Kadiri, 4-6, 7-5, 6-2.

“It was great to get revenge, but the better part was the fact that we won the tournament,” Chu said.

The only other Crimson loss of the day, which came against No. 4 junior Cliff Nguyen, came only a few seconds after Chu had already clinched the championship. But news of Chu’s victory did not reach Nguyen in time to stop his match, so another loss was added to his record.

The Crimson defeated the Bears in the semifinal match of the tournament 4-3, avenging its loss to them last year in the Ivy League championship. Harvard had bowed out of the tournament in the semifinal round the past two years, both of which were hosted at Harvard. Players noted the advantages of playing the tournament at a different site.

“It was a lot more chaotic last year,” Chu said. “The added responsibility of keeping track of other teams was distracting.”

Players noted the unique atmosphere that Flushing Meadows, home of the U.S. Open, provided. Both coaches and players enjoyed playing in the shadow of the main stadium, of which they got a guided tour during the weekend’s tournament.

The Crimson cruised by the Lions, sweeping the quarterfinal round 7-0. Columbia won only one set in singles play, and No. 6 sophomore Jason Beren got his lone victory of the tournament, as he replaced regular Nguyen in this round of the tournament.

In the first round of play, Harvard soundly defeated St. Bonaventure 4-0. Since Harvard clinched the victory so early on, all other matches were suspended due to inclement weather. The Crimson’s match up against St. Bonaventure provided Chu’s only loss of the tournament, in either single or double play, as Chu and his partner, senior Oliver Choo, were upset by Bonaventure’s top double team.

The championships were Harvard’s only team event of the fall season. Later this week, Chu, Choo and senior Dave Lingman will travel to Chattanooga, Tenn., to compete in the ITA All-American championships. Chu and Lingman have qualified for the main singles draw.

—Contributing writer Evan Johnson can be reached at erjohns@fas.harvard.edu