The men's tennis team has done it again. Two weekends ago, the Bears were impressive in their first tournament of the season. Last weekend was no different, as Brown dominated the field at the Cincinnati Invitational.
Competing in its second tournament this fall against five teams ranked in the top 60, the 63rd-ranked Brown team took home the most wins with a total of 23 victories in singles and doubles.
"We played much better this week than last week," said co-captain Eric Thomas '07. "The competition was more demanding. These were bigger schools with better programs."
Hosted by Xavier University, the invitational also included players from No. 9 University of Illinois, No. 26 University of Louisville, No. 28 Wake Forest University, No. 34 University of Kentucky and No. 58 Indiana University.
The tournament was designed to be a team event rather than an individual competition, but rain throughout most of the weekend delayed matches and moved play indoors. Due to the delays, the tournament could not proceed as intended, and matches were instead arranged by random selection.
In singles play, Saurabh Kohli '08 and Chris Lee '09 both went undefeated. Kohli won four matches, including a 6-3, 5-7, 1-0 (10-5) win over Louisville's Robert Rotaru and a 6-3, 4-6, 1-0 (10-2) win over Indiana's Mike McCarthy. Lee had three victories, including a 7-6, 2-6, 1-0 (10-4) defeat of Illinois' Brandon Davis that he viewed as particularly gratifying because the Fighting Illini are ranked No. 9 nationally.
For Thomas, singles play was satisfying for a different reason. Not only was he finally able to hit two-handed backhands again - a broken wrist sidelined him at last season's NCAA Championships - but the Cincinnati native was also playing in front of a home crowd despite being on the road.
Thomas did not disappoint his supporters. He won three of his singles matches, taking an easy win over the Kentucky's Greg Anderson on Friday, defeating Louisville's Chris Herrlinger 6-3, 7-6 (3) on Saturday and demolishing another Cardinals player, Pablo Camacho, 6-1, 6-0 on Sunday.
"My family was there, so it was tough," Thomas said. "I didn't want my wrist to be an excuse for not playing my best. (But) I did better than I expected going in. It was fun playing in front of my family and friends."
The other Bears also had impressive singles results. Noah Gardner '09 took home four wins that included a 6-1, 6-2 victory over Camacho and a 4-6, 6-3, 1-0 (10-7) victory over Louisville's Ben Clos. Meanwhile, Basu Ratnam '09 had two wins, one of them a 6-3, 6-4 defeat of Rotaru.
The Bears were just as successful in doubles play, winning five of their seven matches. On Friday, Lee and 57th-ranked co-captain Dan Hanegby '07 defeated Mariusz Adamski and Charles Sartor of Wake Forest 8-4, and Thomas and Ratnam defeated Alex Forger and Jason Norville of Michigan State University 8-3. Meanwhile, Kohli and Zach Pasanen '07 defeated Kentucky's Kyle Virgin and Alex Lambropoulos 8-3, and they followed that up with an 8-5 win over John Allare and Mike Flowers of Michigan State.
"I did pretty well," Kohli said of his singles and doubles victories. "6-1 is pretty good."
On Sunday, Pasanen and Thomas concluded Brown's trip by defeating Indiana's Peter Antons and Arnaud Roussel 8-4. Bruno left Cincinnati pleased with its overall performance.
"We really progressed as a team," Lee said. "Our confidence is really high right now."
That confidence will certainly be an advantage this weekend when the Bears compete in the ECAC Championships. The tournament will be held at Flushing Meadows in Flushing, N.Y. - the site of the recently completed U.S. Open - and the Bears are hungry for another strong showing.
"We want to win," Kohli said. "Obviously, motivation's not a problem."
According to Thomas, the Bears' main concern as they prepare for the tournament will be deciding their doubles lineup - a tricky task when there are numerous accomplished players to choose from.
The ECAC Championships run from Friday until Monday. Brown will be the No. 1 seed in the tournament and will face Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey in the first round.
