PHILADELPHIA, PA. – Opening their season on the road, the Queens College men's tennis team traveled to Philadelphia for a Friday afternoon doubleheader against the Chestnut Hill College Griffins and the Thomas Jefferson University Rams.
In their opening match of the season, the Knights secured the doubles point before dominating in singles play, winning five of six matches to earn a convincing 6-1 victory over the Griffins.
In their second match of the day, Queens once again took an early 1-0 lead by clinching the doubles point, then extended their advantage to 3-0 with singles wins on Courts 4 and 1. However, the Rams mounted a comeback, evening the score at 3-3. With the match on the line, junior
Caleb Brightman (Pawling, N.Y.) delivered a clutch performance, battling through a thrilling two-set match to clinch a 4-3 victory and help the Knights open the season with a perfect 2-0 record.
MATCH RECAP – Queens 6, Chestnut Hill 1
Doubles Play
Queens jumped out to an early lead in doubles play as the #1 pair of junior
Tim Andersson (Linkoping, Sweden) and junior
David Cerne (Ljubljana, Slovenia) earned a 6-4 victory over Noah Cutting and Augustin Daubannay. The Knights clinched the doubles point shortly after, with the #2 duo of Birghtman and sophomore
Pablo Serrano (Cochabamba, Bolivia) securing a 6-4 win over Siddharth Malik and Ewan Brown.
The match at #3 court went unfinished.
Singles Play
Cerne extended the Knights' advantage to 2-0 with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Siddharth Malik on Court #6. Playing on Court #2, Serrano followed with a dominant 6-2, 6-2 win over Filippo Relecom, putting the Knights just one match away from clinching their first victory of the year.
Sophomore
Jaime Foix Sotos (Javea, Spain) clinched the match on Court #6, as the Spaniard earned a 6-3, 7-5 victory over Ewan Brown.
The Griffins claimed their lone point of the afternoon as Enzo Puppi defeated Brightman in straight sets, 6-4, 6-4.
Queens secured the final two points of the match, beginning with sophomore
London Mosquera (Queens, N.Y.), who earned a 6-2, 6-4 win over Augustin Daubannay on Court #4. Sophomore
Adam Laur (Boulogne Billancourt, France) closed out the day on Court #1 with a thrilling three-set comeback against Alessio Lefebvre. After dropping the first set 5-7, Laur battled back to win the second in a tiebreak, 7-6 (7-5), and sealed the match with a 10-8 victory in the deciding super tiebreak, securing a 6-1 win for the Knights.
MATCH RECAP – Queens 4, Jefferson 3
The second match of the day proved to be a closely contested affair, featuring two three-set singles matches and a total of four tiebreakers that ultimately decided the outcome.
Doubles Play
The Knights opened the match by taking an early lead in doubles play, as the duo of senior
Alexis Martin-Gibiard (Saint-Remy-de-Provence, France) and Laur earned a 6-2 victory over Filip Slavkovic and Elliot Jarosz at court #2.
The Rams responded by leveling doubles play, as the Knights' #1 pair of senior
Lucas Foix Sotos (Javea, Spain) and
Samuel Linck (Haarlem, Netherlands) fell in a hard-fought 6-7
(5-7) battle against Nicholas Trebuchet and Jules Thibault.
With the doubles point hanging in the balance, it came down to a second tiebreaker on Court #3. The Knights' junior duo of Andersson and Cerne secured their second doubles win of the season with a thrilling 7-6
(7-2) victory over Antonio Mateos Melenchon and Matt Cizmarik to clinch the 1-0 lead for Queens.
Singles Play
With a 1-0 lead in the match, Linck extended the Knights' advantage to 2-0 with a commanding 6-1, 6-2 victory over Johary Rabetrano on Court #4.
Queens extended their lead to a commanding 3-0 as senior
Lucas Foix Sotos (Javea, Spain) defeated Trebuchet 6-1, 6-4 on Court #1.
However, the Rams began their rally when Martin-Gibiard fell on Court #3, losing 2-6, 4-6 to Melenchon.
Jefferson earned their second point as Andersson dropped a hard-fought three-set battle to Thibault on Court #2, 6-1, 3-6, 4-6.
The home team continued their comeback, tying the match at 3-3 when Serrano engaged in a three-set marathon against Quentin Duvinage on Court #5. Serrano took the first set 6-1, but Duvinage fought back to claim the next two sets 7-6
(8-6), 6-3.
With the match tied, junior Brightman faced Jarosz on Court #6 in a decisive two-set battle. Brightman edged out a tense first-set tiebreak, 7-6
(8-6), then secured the victory with a 7-5 second set to clinch the match 4-3 for Queens.
NEXT UP:
Queens will use the week to prepare for the ITA East Regional Singles and Doubles Tournament, scheduled for September 25–29 at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing.
For the latest news on Queens College Athletics, follow the Knights at queensknights.com or via social media on Facebook (Queens College Athletics), Twitter (@QCKnights), Instagram (qcknightsny), qcmtennis (@qcmtennis)
