Stein, Rupasinghe advance to NCAA doubles semifinals
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| Amrit Rupasinghe ’10 (left) and Ben Stein ’09 react after clinching their three-set win over Washington University in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Division III Men’s Tennis Doubles Championships. (Photos by Suzy Preston) |
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Marinkovic, who has played more games than any other player since the NCAA Men’s Tennis Championships began at Bates on May 13, defeated Charlie Cutler of Washington University in St. Louis by a 6-4, 6-2 score in the quarterfinals on Saturday morning, then beat NESCAC conference rival and Bowdoin freshman Stephen Sullivan in the semifinals, 6-2, 7-6 (2).
Greenberg downed Chris Fletcher of Methodist University 6-2, 6-4 in the quarterfinals, then took down the No. 1 seed in the original 32-player field, Washington University in St. Louis sophomore John Watts, 6-4, 6-4.
Marinkovic and Greenberg will meet Sunday at 12 p.m. at the Wallach Tennis Center for the NCAA singles crown.
Saturday also saw the quarterfinal round of the Doubles Championship, where Stein and Rupasinghe gutted out a victory over No. 2 seed Charlie Cutler and Chris Hoeland of Washington University in St. Louis. Stein and Rupasinghe led in the first set 5-3 only to lose it 7-5, but topped the Washington pair 7-2 in a second-set tiebreaker, then finished the deal with a 6-1 win in the deciding third set, as Rupasinghe’s volley split between Cutler and Hoeland on quadruple match point.
Stein and Rupasinghe advance to face Andy Bryan and Charlie Paukert of Gustavus Adolphus in Sunday’s doubles semifinals, which are slated to start at 2 p.m. The Gustavus pair defeated Middlebury’s Marinkovic and Andrew Thomson in consecutive tiebreakers, The other semifinal will pit Guillaume Schils and Larry Wang of Claremont-Mudd-Scripps against No. 1 seed Jared Kamel and Marc Vartabedian of UC Santa Cruz. The CMS duo topped No. 4 seed Randy Loden and Kaz Murata of the University of Mary Washington, while the Santa Cruz pair beat John Mook and Eddie Gladwell of Christopher Newport.
Singles Quarterfinal Scores
#1 John Watts (Washington-St. Louis) def. Mike Klimchak (TCNJ), 6-1, 6-2
Filip Marinkovic (Middlebury) def. Charlie Cutler (Washington-St. Louis), 6-4, 6-2
Michael Greenberg (Kenyon) def. Chris Fletcher (Methodist), 6-2, 6-4
Stephen Sullivan (Bowdoin) def. Spencer Feldman (Trinity-CT), 6-3, 6-3
Singles Semifinal Scores
Michael Greenberg (Kenyon) def. #1 John Watts (Washington-St. Louis), 6-4, 6-4
Filip Marinkovic (Middlebury) def. Stephen Sullivan (Bowdoin), 6-2, 7-6 (2)
Doubles Quarterfinal Scores
Ben Stein/Amrit Rupasinghe (Bates) def. #2 Charlie Cutler/Chris Hoeland (Washington-St. Louis), 5-7, 7-6 (2), 6-1
Guillaume Schils/Larry Wang (Claremont-M-S) def. #4 Randy Loden/Kaz Murata (Mary Washington), 6-2, 6-2
Andy Bryan/Charlie Paukert (Gustavus Adolphus) def. #3 Filip Marinkovic/Andrew Thomson (Middlebury), 7-6 (2), 7-6 (3)
#1 Jared Kamel/Marc Vartabedian (UC Santa Cruz) def. John Mook/Eddie Glidewell (Christopher Newport), 6-2, 7-6 (5)
Sunday’s Schedule
Singles Championship, 12 p.m.
Filip Marinkovic (Middlebury) vs. Michael Greenberg (Kenyon )
Doubles Semifinals, 2 p.m.
#1 Jared Kamel/Marc Vartabedian (UC Santa Cruz) vs. Guillaume Schils/Larry Wang (Claremont-M-S)
Ben Stein/Amrit Rupasinghe (Bates) vs. Andy Bryan/Charlie Paukert (Gustavus Adolphus)
Doubles Championship, 4 p.m.
TBD