The men’s tennis team will host its annual fall tournament, the Columbia Classic, this weekend at the Dick Savitt Tennis Center. The defending champion from the top singles bracket, senior and No. 78 Mihai Nichifor, will not be participating, however, as he is playing at the D’Novo/ITA All-American Championships this week.
“We did really well last year,” head coach Bid Goswami said, “but this year we are without Mihai and Jon. It will be interesting to see how they do.”
“A couple of teams backed out at the last minute,” Goswami continued. “Cornell and Harvard and Binghamton, so it got a little weaker. But Princeton and Penn are still here and have been playing well. Without Harvard it’s a little lighter, a little dimmer, but it’s still good preparation for regionals.”
The Lions are coming off strong individual showings at the National Tennis Center Invitational, where senior co-captain Jon Wong won the “A” singles title over the No. 1 player Eugen Brazdil from Penn, and freshman John Yetimoglu won the “F” singles title over Jeffrey Karsh from Penn.
Sophomores Rajeev Deb-Sen and Ekin Sezgen will be looking to regain the form that helped propel the Lions to the Ivy League title last spring, with the two of them playing No. 6 and No. 4 singles, respectively. Sezgen in particular has struggled to find his stride this season after a stellar freshman campaign, which saw him go 10-7 and 4-3 in conference play.
“They have not played as well as last spring,” Goswami continued. “Rajeev was playing well at Princeton [Invitational], but he got hurt a little bit. Ekin did not play much this summer so that showed, and we need him to play well. He has been practicing better, so if he is not there then at least he is getting there.”
The Lions will be looking to finalize their doubles lineups as well, as the team prepares for its biggest tournament of the fall, the Wilson/ITA Regional Championships. The team struggled at the National Tennis Center Invitational in doubles, but had more success at the Princeton Invitational, as Wong and Nichifor advanced to the semifinals of the top draw.
In addition, Wong and sophomore Haig Schneiderman, who played No. 2 doubles last season, qualified for the D’Novo/ITA All-American Championships qualifying doubles draw. There, the duo ran into a powerhouse team from Southern California. The No. 7 seeds took out the Columbia pair 8-5 before being eliminated in the next round.
Columbia will also be looking to sharpen the play of their freshmen, including Nathaniel Gery and Cyril Bucher. Gery played well at the National Tennis Center Invitational, advancing to the quarterfinals of the “C” bracket with a win over Charlie Posner from Brown.
The Lions will also be playing their only home tournament of the fall slate this weekend. The Lions were spectacular at home last season in dual matches, going 8-1.
The tournament will run from Oct. 9 to Oct.11 at the Dick Savitt Tennis Center.
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