Captains Edged by Nation's Top Team

One point.

That’s all that separated Courtney Bergman and Susanna Lingman from the most impressive doubles win of their Harvard careers.

At the Riviera/ITA Women’s All-American Championships, the women’s tennis team’s co-captains reached three match points against the nation’s top-ranked duo before eventually losing 7-4 in the tiebreak of the eight-game pro set.

“It was a tough one to lose,” Bergman said. “We played really good doubles, but the other team came up with some really good shots.”

Despite not playing together at the Cissie Leary Invitational, Bergman and Lingman meshed well. They executed superbly, hitting solid groundstrokes and aggressive volleys—but they fell just short of victory against a fiercely competitive Arizona doubles team.

“We played really, really well,” Bergman said. “It was a little surprising because we didn’t play together at the first tournament, but we definitely couldn’t have played better tennis.”

Fatigue may have been a factor, as both Bergman and Lingman also participated in the singles draw. Since neither player was automatically included in the main draw, they were forced to play in the grueling qualifiers in the hopes of clinching one of the eight open slots.

“I was pretty exhausted,” said Bergman. “I probably played 15 singles sets.”

In the singles qualifiers, Lingman rolled through two matches in straight sets before falling 6-0, 6-2 to Northwestern’s Audra Cohen to narrowly miss qualifying for the main draw. While Bergman also lost her third match (6-2, 2-6, 6-4) after winning two demanding three-setters, she advanced to the main draw as a Lucky Loser. Ironically, she was matched up against Zerene Reyes—the same player who had just edged her in the previous match. After dashing off to quick 5-2 lead in the first set, Bergman dropped the next five games to lose the set. While she rebounded in the second set, Bergman was eventually defeated 7-5, 2-6, 7-5.

“It was 6-4 and 7-5 in the third sets,” Bergman said, “and I feel like both were matches I could have won.”

Bergman’s loss set her up against the seventh-seeded Daria Panova in the back draw. She was able to overcome her fatigue to rout Panova in straight sets, 7-6, 6-0—an important win coming off two disheartening losses.

“I was happy that I bounced back and was able to get such a good win in the back draw,” Bergman said.

Next up for Lingman and Bergman is the ITA East Regional Tournament in Philadelphia. Their preferred method of preparation after a hectic weekend: ultimate relaxation.

“I took off Saturday, Sunday and Monday,” Bergman said. “And I’m thinking about Tuesday too.”