A wonderful 1st day of New England ITA action came to a close a few short hours ago. While some of our gladiators rest up and prepare for another harsh day of battle, the rest are relegated to cheering on their teammates, or worse, headed home. My predictions were somewhere between mediocre and decent, as I correctly predicted 26/32 1st round singles winners, and 13/16 doubles winners. I will try to do better by predicting tomorrow’s action, but first lets take a look at what happened today.
SINGLES
TOP DOGS DOING WORK
5/8 of the top seeds advanced to the sweet 16, and as the Almighty D3TG tweeted at me, Glickman losing was “not an upset.” Of the 5, only Carpenter and Zhang dropped a set. My guess is tomorrow the top 5 remaining players don’t do quite as well and we continue with the upsets. But more to come on that later…
BIGGEST UPSETS
Obviously, if 5/8 top seeds advanced then 3 of the top 8 seeds did not. #6 Teddy Fitzgibbons and #7 Jay Glickman both lost in the 1st round (in straight sets no less), to Feit (Wheaton) and Harron (Williams) respectively. Apparently taking Teddy to the semis was a big mistake, but we live and we learn. Maybe he just had a good weekend back at the Middlebury Invitational, but this match was on his home court too. Now Feit is no pushover. He rolled through his 2nd round match (although it wasn’t against a player nearly as good as Fitzgibbons) and has a winnable match in Berg (Bates) early tomorrow morning. #4 Micheli was an even bigger surprise. Not because he lost to Trinka (a solid player who seems to have made a leap between his freshman and sophomore years) but simply because he lost for the 2nd time in 3 matches. Wow!
BEST MATCHES
Two 1st round matches went all the way to 7-6 in the third. Berg outlasted a tough 1st round matchup in Solimano, and Jones took out a newbie in Mantingo from Trinity. Both guys came back from a set down, Berg was down a break in the 2nd and Brantner was down a break in the 3rd. The bronze medal goes to Zhang who was quickly bageled in the 1st set by Astrachan, then fought back to win the 2nd in a breaker and pulled out the 3rd 6-4.
DOUBLES
NO CLOSE MATCHES
Only one match gave the fans extra tennis. Wheaton’s lone team took out the Bates 3rd team 9-7. Not a single other match went past 8-6, with more than half of the matches decided by at least 2 breaks. Let’s hope we get a bit more exciting doubles tomorrow. Something tells me we will
BIGGEST UPSET
Is it a cop out for me to say none? I know that 3 of the top 8 seeds lost, but I predicted 2 of those 3, and the 3rd was a team of Williams sophomores who have played doubles during a national championship run. No shockers here.
BEST MATCHES
Unfortunately, I touched on this already in my 1st recap section. There weren’t a ton of close matches. My guess is that the Fife/Fritz 8-6 win over Mountifield/Smolyer was the most exciting doubles match of the day. Those are 4 good players, capable of putting on a good show.
DAY 2 PREVIEW
DOUBLES
#1 Revzin/Solimano (Amherst) vs. Taschereau/Utell (Colby-Sawyer)
-This should be a no-brainer. For the sake of good tennis, I hope that I’m wrong. Amherst 8-2
Brint/Hicks (Wesleyan) vs. #5-8 Bogard/Yanofsky (Bates)
-This will be a tight match, and I’m taking the mini-upset. Wesleyan 8-6.
#5-8 Yaraghi/Zykov (Amherst) vs. Campbell/Jones (Midd)
-Best 2nd round match. 1 great doubles player, 3 great singles players, and a freshman we still know very little about. I’m taking the experience and going with the Panthers.
Wang/Oh (MIT) vs. #3 Micheli/Harron (Williams)
-Williams is just the better team, plain and simple. With Micheli out of the singles, he’ll put everything into doubles, making him very dangerous. Williams 8-4
Schidlovsky/Astrachan (Williams) vs. Berg/Ellis (Bates)
-Both teams had good 1st round wins, but unfortunately only one can move into the quarters. I’ll take the big hitting Eph sophomores to topple the solid hands of the Bates team, Williams 8-6.
Jacobson/Wong (Tufts) vs. Fritz/Fife (Amherst)
-2 of the best singles players in the doubles draw upset the #5-8 seeded Panthers, and will continue their winning ways against a good young team from Tufts. Amherst 8-5.
Raventos/Shastri (Williams) vs. Ottomano/Martin (Colby)
The Williams freshmen took out the seeded MIT boys in the 1st round, and now should have an easier 2nd round in Colby’s top team. Williams 8-3.
Feit/Sharon (Wheaton) vs. #2 Johnston/Lebovitz (Midd)
-What a day for Jonah Feit! Taking out Fitzgibbons, making the sweet 16 in the singles, and keeping Wheaton alive in the doubles as well. Unfotunately I think the Wheaton team has met their match in Johnston/Lebovitz. Midd take it, 8-3.
SINGLES
#1Fritz (Amherst) vs. #9-16 Jones (MIdd)
-While Fritz had a tougher time than I would’ve thought, he still made it this far without dropping a set. Jones had a tougher route, having to come back from a set down and then 2-5 in the 3rd set. I’ll take the fresher man in Fritz, 5&4.
#9-16 Telkedzhiev (Tufts) vs. #8 Carpenter (Trinity)
-For some reason, though their seeds are close I don’t see this match as a close one, and it doesn’t interest me. I’ll take Carpenter 3&3.
Feit (Wheaton) vs. #9-16 Berg (Bates)
-This will show the world what Feit really has to offer. Berg will not lose to anyone without putting up a hell of a fight. In response to my commenter who blasted me for saying Berg was a “glorified pusher” let me say that there is nothing wrong with that. I’ll take my pusher, 6&2.
Mountifield (Midd) vs. Trinka (Bowdoin)
-Great performances earned both players upsets in the 2nd round. Trinka gets my nod for singles player of the day. Beating Roberts was a good 1st win, but to follow it up by taking out Micheli was even more impressive. I’ll say the Polar Bear continues his inspired play. Trinka in 3 sets.
#3 Zhang (MIT) vs. Frons (Midd)
– Zhang has never made it past the round of 16 at the ITA, and Frons can be happy with a straight set win over Sam King. Zhang breaks his ITA curse and gets to the quarters, 2&4.
Schidlovsky (Williams) vs. #5Campbell (Midd)
-Another great matchup (I guess we should get good matchups now that we’re down to the sweet 16.) Campbell will be too solid for the hard-hitting Eph. Palmer takes the match, 4&1.
Harron (Williams) vs. #9-16Johnston (Midd)
Best match of the round. As D3TG pointed out, Harron wasn’t too much of an upset, but for him to continue his run he’ll have to take out the big serving Johnston. If this match is outdoors, Harron takes it, after losing the 1st set.
#9-16 Weiss (Williams) vs. #2 Yaraghi (Amherst)
-A wonderful sophomore matchup to finish off the round of 16. I think both of these players could make a deep run, and it’s almost a shame they have to play this early. This could be an ITA finals preview for a couple years down the road. I’ll take Yaraghi, 4&4.
That’s it for now. Please check twitter updates through the day!