Photo by Erez Aidlin
The first major college tennis tournament of the fall season has come to a close after over a week of play. With the best players in the country participating — and some notably absent — there are plenty of clear storylines to follow for the rest of the fall and even looking ahead to the spring.
North Carolina Schools Poised for Success
On the women’s side Duke and UNC have plenty to celebrate as both newcomers and returners showcased excellent tennis. The women’s doubles champions were the returning duo Maddy Zampardo and Susanna Maltby of the Tar Heels, a duo yet to lose as they went undefeated at the Kitty Harrison Invitational last week.
On the singles side, Blue Devils newcomer Mimi Xu was a standout, making the final in her first-ever college tournament. Xu’s impressive run included wins over top seed Carmen Andreea Herea of Texas, seventh seed Amelie Van Impe, and North Carolina’s Nicole Khirin, a graduate student in her first year with the Tar Heels. Khirin, rostered on Texas A&M last season, has been out with injury for a year but has been stellar so far in her comeback as she came through qualifying this week. Duke players Irina Balus and Aspen Schuman qualified for NCAAs alongside Xu with quarterfinal runs.
Ohio State Inevitable in Every Draw
Wherever you turned, Ohio State was there.
On the women’s side, Luciana Perry dominated, winning the tournament in singles with a dominant 6-2 6-1 win over Xu. She was stellar all tournament not just in singles but in doubles too, where she made the final with Flora Johnson. Ranked No. 3 in the preseason standings, Perry has a chance this fall to cement herself as the player to beat going forward.
The men saw two singles players reach qualification in Nikita Filin and Aidan Kim, but their best moment predictably came in doubles. It was an all-Buckeyes affair as Filin and Brandon Carpico faced Kim and Bryce Nakashima. Carpico and Filin, the top seeds and heavy favorites to win the tournament following their US Open run, didn’t drop a set en route to the title. They’ll be heavy favorites for the NCAA title, with plenty of representation from Ohio State supporting them in Athens.
NCAA Qualification Pressure Looms for Top Players
One of the biggest storyline from All-Americans was the absences in the draw. On the men’s side, No. 1 Dylan Dietrich, No. 2 Paul Inchauspe, No. 3 Duncan Chan, and No. 4 Max Dahlin all withdrew before the tournament began and will have to turn to Regionals, Sectionals, or the Conference Masters to qualify for the NCAA Singles Championships. The women had plenty of withdrawals as well, with No. 1 Lucciana Perez, No. 4 Teah Chavez, No. 5 Aysegul Mert, No. 8 Cadence Brace, and No. 9 Evialina Laskevich missing from this week’s action.
But the situation may be even tougher for the top players who did participate in All-Americans but were unable to qualify for NCAAs. No. 2 Carmen Andreea Herea and No. 3 Piper Charney were chief among them, with neither able to get through the consolation bracket after losing early in the main draw. No. 5 Devin Badenhorst, No. 9 Gabriel Debru, and No. 10 Matthew Forbes all had plenty of opportunities with the top four gone but couldn’t take advantage.
All of these players will be the favorites at their respective Regional tournaments, and on paper it should be the easiest draws they face in the entire fall season. But, as the upsets at All-Americans show, the players projected to qualify for NCAAs aren’t guaranteed their spot, and the longer their fall goes the more pressure there will be.
