Luke Tedaldi '06 celebrated his 22nd birthday in style on Sunday afternoon. He clinched the winning point in the men's tennis team's 4-3 victory over Harvard and was rewarded with an on-court rendition of "Happy Birthday" for his efforts.
The victory, coming after a 6-1 dismantling of Dartmouth on Friday, moved No. 65 Brown one step closer to claiming a share of the Ivy League title. Brown is now 5-1 in the Ivy League, a half game behind the University of Pennsylvania (6-1), whose season is complete.
"This is the best tennis we've played all year from start to finish," said Head Coach Jay Harris. "Luke, on his birthday, becomes the hero. There's no better story than that."
The Bears may have one more fairytale story for print as they close in on another Ivy crown.
Bruno narrowly lost the doubles point against the Crimson to start Sunday's showdown. After the second doubles duo of Dan Hanegby '07 and Saurabh Kohli '08 lost a close 8-6 match to Scott Denenbery and Gideon Valkin, the third doubles match was driven to a tiebreaker. Eric Thomas '07 and Sam Garland '09 lost to Brandon Chiu and Nick Savage for a final score of 9-8 (5) to put Brown in an early hole.
At first doubles, Phil Charm '06 and Chris Lee '09 faced a tiebreaker of their own. Though they ultimately took the match 9-8 (8) over Ashwin Kumar and Sasha Ermakov, the Crimson already had the two wins needed for the doubles point.
The pressure was on as singles play began. "It's hard to win four of the six singles matches," Thomas said. "It's an uphill battle."
But the Bears did just that, beginning with Thomas' 6-2, 6-4 win over Dan Nguyen at third singles. With the match tied at 1-1, the first and second singles matches were close to ending with neither side gaining an advantage. Hanegby was two points away from winning his match and Basu Ratnam '09 was two points away from losing his.
Hanegby's opponent, Kumar, battled back to drive the match into a third set, which Hanegby ultimately lost for a score of 6-1, 7-6 (5), 6-4. Nevertheless, Harris said, "Dan fought like crazy."
Meanwhile, Ratnam said he was able to "step it up" against Chris Clayton to bring his match to a third set as well. "In the third set, I was more confident," he said. It showed, as he defeated Clayton 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 to keep pace with Harvard and tie the match at 2-2.
Following Ratnam's come-from-behind win and Hanegby's loss, the Bears' remaining three singles players took to the courts. After Kohli won the fourth singles match 6-3, 7-6 (3), Brown needed just one more victory to close out the Crimson.
Tedaldi jumped at the opportunity to save the day - especially against his rival, Brian Wan. According to Tedaldi, Wan defeated Garland earlier in the year at the ECAC Championships but had approached Tedaldi to ask why he had not played sixth singles that day. Tedaldi said Wan had told him, "I was looking forward to kicking your ass."
But this time, the only person metaphorically kicking anyone's posterior was Tedaldi, as he demolished Wan 6-2, 6-2 to give Brown the victory.
Following his win, Tedaldi was enveloped in hugs from excited teammates, friends and even twin brother Max, who used to be a captain of the Harvard team.
"This is what I've been waiting for my whole life," Tedaldi said.
Friday's victory over Dartmouth kept the Bears in the race for the title, and without it, Harvard's defeat would have been a bit less celebrated. The match began with a tight battle for the doubles point. At first doubles, the match came down to a tiebreaker, which Charm and Lee won for a final score of 9-8 (4). Meanwhile, Hanegby and Kohli took the second doubles match 9-7. Thomas and Garland lost at third doubles 9-7, but the Bears already had the two wins necessary to grab the doubles point.
Bruno easily dispatched the Big Green in singles play, only dropping one match. Hanegby led the way at first singles, winning 7-6 (3), 6-3. There were three more straight-set victories at third, fourth and sixth singles by Thomas, Kohli, and Garland, respectively. Tedaldi's match at fifth singles was driven to three sets, but he prevailed 6-4, 6-7 (0), 1-0 (8). The only loss came at second singles, as Ratnam fell in a close 6-4, 7-6 match.
The Bears will next face Yale on Wednesday at home at 2 p.m. If they win, they are guaranteed a share of the Ivy League title with the Quakers.
"Yale is very, very good," Harris said. "We'll have to play as well as we did today."
But as Ratnam said, "As a team we grew today. We stepped up a level. We're the favorites."
