After a successful season debut at the Virginia Invitational a week ago, the Columbia men’s tennis team struggled in the Princeton Invitational this weekend. The defending Ivy League champion Lions dominated the tournament last fall, but were unable to conjure up the same magic this season.
Seniors Mihai Nichifor and Jon Wong led the team in the A singles draw. Nichifor was the No. 1 overall seed, and Wong, the defending champion, was No. 2. Nichifor, who lost in the final last year, won his first-round match against Jason Lee from Penn State in straight sets but was upset in the second round by Wotjek Starakiwiecz from the University of Buffalo in three close sets, 5-7, 6-3, 6-3. Wong defaulted from his first-round match in both the main draw and consolation play as well. The eventual champion of the bracket was Penn’s Eugen Brazdil, who outlasted Ryan Gormley from Penn State, 6-3, 4-6, 6-1, in the final. Lee, whom Nichifor beat in the first round, went on to win the consolation bracket.
The B singles draw did not see the Lions play any better, as the two Columbia entrants, Ekin Sezgen and Haig Schneiderman, both lost in the first round of play in the main draw. Schneiderman, who played No. 5 singles last season, was the No. 2 seed and was defeated by Andy Gauthier from Cornell in straight sets. Sezgen, who played No. 4 last spring, lost in straight sets to Taylor Cohen from Penn State, 7-5, 6-2. In the consolation draw, Sezgen was defeated in the first round by Jason Lin from the Penn, while Schneiderman was defeated in the second round by Yale freshman Marc Powers, who would go on to win the consolation final.
The C singles draw saw sophomore Rajeev Deb-Sen advance to the second round with a solid win over C.J. Griffin from Penn State, 7-5 in the third set. However, Deb-Sen was went down in the next round to Martin Kosut from St. John’s University in straight sets. Deb-Sen’s teammate, junior Kevin Kung, was eliminated in the first round by Yale’s Erik Blumenkranz in three tight, closely fought sets.
Freshman Cyril Bucher provided one of Columbia’s highlights of the weekend in terms of upsets in the D singles draw, where he advanced to the semifinal and beat No. 1 seed Coleman Crutchfield from Princeton, 2-6, 6-1, 6-2, in the quarterfinals. Bucher, from Switzerland, was defeated by Robert Wong from Penn in the semifinals. Nathaniel Gery, another freshman for Columbia, advanced to the semifinals as well but lost to the No. 2 seed, Daniel Hoffman from Yale, 6-1, 6-2. Hoffman went on to win the D bracket.
Junior Sho Matsumoto was the No. 1 overall seed in the E singles draw,but was defeated in the second round after a bye in the first. Freshman John Yetimoglu lost in the first round as well, falling 6-1 in the third set.
The Light Blue did not fare much better in doubles play, despite having the No. 1 overall seed again as Wong and Nichifor paired up in the A singles draw. The two Lions advanced to the semifinals where they were upended by the Cornell team of Jeremy Feldman and Andy Gauthier, 8-4.
Schneiderman and Gery were the other doubles team in the A draw. The Columbia duo dominated their first-round match, winning 8-1, but were defeated in the quarterfinals by Lee and Bouchier from Penn State, 8-2. Deb-Sen and Kung were the sole entrants in the B doubles draw, advancing to the semifinals before losing to the eventual champions from Princeton, Matt Siow and Yohei Shoji.
The Lions will look to get back on track next weekend at the USTA Invitational held in Flushing Meadows, N.Y.
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