Denis Nguyen captured the singles title at the Harvard Winter Invite (Gil T...
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CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The Harvard men's tennis team kicked off the 2013 portion of its schedule in fine style as it hosted Boston College and Marist in the weekend-long Harvard Winter Invite. The Crimson took part in 22 singles matches, winning 20 of them, and 10 doubles matches, claiming nine wins. Harvard's Denis Nguyen won the singles competition while the team of Alex Steinroeder and Nicholas Mahlangu took the doubles crown.
The event began with doubles and Harvard had strong showings on three courts. Denis Nguyen and Casey MacMaster dominated Marist's Will Reznek and Trym Nagelstad, 8-2, while Nicky Hu and Shaun Chaudhuri posted an 8-2 win over a BC duo on the second court. Rookie Conor Haughey and junior Brendan Seaver also topped a BC pair, 8-2, on the third court.
Harvard swept all but one singles match on Day 1, claiming seven victories on the day. Chaudhuri had the most convincing win for the Crimson, knocking off BC's Jonathan Raude, 6-1, 6-1. Denis Nguyen, MacMaster and Haughey also recorded straight-set victories, while Alex Steinroeder dug deep for a 2-6, 6-1, 6-3 win over Marist's Lorenzo Rossi and Hu notched a 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 win over Joris Van Eck of Marist. Freshman Kelvin Lam also rallied from a one-set deficit, downing Nagelstad, 5-6, 6-3, 6-5.
Day 2 featured more strong doubles from the hosts, fronted by an 8-1 victory by Haughey and Lam over a Marist team. Steinroeder teamed with freshman Nicholas Mahlangu for an 8-2 win over Matt Wagner and Raude of Boston College, and the Chaudhuri/Hu and Nguyen/MacMaster teams were victorious for the second time in as many days.
There were straight-set wins across the board for the Crimson on Saturday with Steinroeder leading the charge by way of a 6-0, 6-2 win over Michael McGinnis of BC. Lam (6-3, 6-0) and Chaudhuri (6-2, 6-1) relinquished only three games each in their singles wins and Seaver earned his first singles win of the tourney with a 6-2, 6-3 final against Motta of Marist. The final day of competition saw a Harvard singles sweep as all four matches were decided in straight sets.
The Crimson is back in action Jan. 25-26 when it travels to Oklahoma to take part in the ITA Kick Off event. Harvard faces Notre Dame Friday and will see either Memphis or host Oklahoma Saturday.
