Columbia Tennis Wraps Up First Day at NTC Invitational
Saturday, 09/22/2012
FLUSHING MEADOWS, N.Y. - The Columbia men's tennis team finished up the first day of the NTC Invitational at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center Friday with four Lions moving on to the semifinals of their respective draw.
Winston Lin, the three-seed in the singles A draw, won a pair of matches Friday to advance to Saturday's semifinals. Lin opened the tournament with a 6-2, 6-2 defeat of Yale's Daniel Hoffman and then rallied from a set down to top SMU's Gaston Cuadranti in the quarterfinals, 3-6, 6-4, 10-6.
Freshman Dragos Ignat will represent Columbia in the singles B draw semifinals after winning two matches Friday. Ignat notched straight set wins over James Barnhart and Ian Tesmond of Sacred Heart and Fairfield, respectively, to earn his spot in the semifinals.
Ignat and Lin also teamed up to win their opening doubles match in the B draw, 8-6, over Fordham's Alla and Peara.
Ignat's classmate, Daniel Morgan faced a tough opening round match against Evan Ward in flight E singles, rallying from a set down to advance to the quarterfinals. Morgan then took down Joris Van Eck, 6-4, 7-6(4) to move on to Saturday's semifinals.
Junior Mark Lemann will be the fourth Columbia student-athlete playing in the semifinals after winning two three-set matches in the singles H draw.
In flight C singles, Bert Vancura won his round of 16 match of Dennis Ziobinsky, 6-4, 6-2, but fell to Harvard's Nicky Hu in the quarterfinals.
Play continues Saturday with two rounds of doubles action, and the semifinals of singles play.