M. Tennis Wins Spring Opener

Northwestern faced off against the Harvard men’s tennis team yesterday afternoon fresh from a victory over No. 18 North Carolina, but the Wildcats (4-2) quickly found themselves troubled by the doubles.

In its home opener, the Crimson (1-0) swept doubles play and went on to win the top four singles matches, besting Northwestern 5-2.

“We didn’t really let them get a chance to get into the match,” captain Jonathan Chu said. “We were well prepared, and it shows.”

Harvard entered the match with a psychological advantage over Northwestern, boating both home court advantage as well as season opening energy. The enthusiasm of the first home match helped the Crimson realize a goal set in the preseason of kicking off matches energetically.

“All of our guys jumped off the bat in the beginning,” junior Brandon Chiu said. “It didn’t look like a typical first match of the season.”

Chu and freshman Ashwin Kumar paired up at No. 1 doubles, taking the match 9-8 after winning the tiebreak 8-6.

“We brought a lot more energy to it,” Chiu said. “That was a deciding difference, particularly in [Nos.] 2 and 3 doubles.”

Senior Martin Wetzel and senior Jason Beren won their set at No. 2 doubles by an 8-4 margin. At No. 3 doubles, senior Jordan Bohnen and Chiu posted an 8-5 victory to wrap up doubles play for Harvard.

The team focused attention on doubles play for the season, and an intersession trip to Florida gave the team time to work on its play and work out its matchups.

“We spent a lot of time in the offseason trying to come up with combinations,” Chu said. “We were very, very prepared, and we emphasized having a lot of energy.”

The strength of doubles play fed a contagious enthusiasm that infected subsequent singles matches.

“Energy was high in doubles, and in singles, we just wanted to take advantage of having the doubles behind us,” he said.

The Crimson rolled through singles play, capturing the top four spots.

Wetzel won his match in 6-1, 6-4 sets, and Chu won at No. 2 singles, 6-4, 6-4.

Kumar dominated his opponent in the first set, 6-1, but the second set would be tighter, although Kumar won, 7-6.

Sophomore Shantanu Dhaka blanked his opponent in the first set, 6-0, but fell in the second 7-5. Dhaka finished strong in a marathon third set, winning 10-8.

Harvard fell at No. 5 and 6 singles, with sophomore Gideon Valkin falling in the former 6-2, 7-6, and freshman Dan Nguyen dropping straight sets 6-2, 6-3.

With the performance, the Crimson capitalized on home-turf advantage.

“We don’t have very many home matches, so we have to make the best with what we have,” Chiu said.

The team has its work cut out for it for the spring season.

“We’ll be happy to start off with a win, and we did, so we’re really looking forward to next weekend,” Chu said.

Yesterday’s contest was the first of a three-match homestand, with competition against Clemson and Louisville to follow next weekend.

The matches are the team’s last chance to tune up before the USTA/ITA Indoor National Championships, which will be held a week later.

“Every match that we play is another building block,” Chu said.

—Staff writer Samuel C. Scott can be reached at sscott@fas.harvard.edu.