Petros Chrysochos Takes Tulsa, Bergevi/Lakat Tame North Florida, Holt Halts Schneider in Consol Final

Di Feo had come back from a set down in two of his previous three matches but he found himself in a LARGE hole after dropping the first 19 points of the second set. It wasn’t that Di Feo was playing poorly during that stretch it was just that Chrysochos was in a zone and was hitting winners from all over the court. Chrysochos finally made an error when he went for a drop shot from the baseline up 6-4, 4-0 (40-0) but he took the next point to hold for 5-0. Di Feo looked like he was going to get on the board when he went up 40/15 but Chrysochos took the next two points with volley winners to bring up his first match point on the deciding no-ad point. Di Feo was in control of the point and tried to finish with a drop shot but Chrysochos made a sliding backhand chip winner to close it out in just under an hour (59 minutes). Chrysochos won 24 of 28 (.857) points in the second set and 54 of 81 (.667) in the match to become Wake Forest’s first-ever All-American Champion.

Petros Chrysochos’s Path to the Title
R64 def. Mate Cutura (Mississippi State 13.55) 6-4, 6-4
R32 def. Gage Brymer (UCLA 14.22) 6-3, 6-1
R16 – def. Jose Salazar (Arkansas 14.12) 7-6(1), 4-6, 7-6(4)
QF def. [1] Mikael Torpegaard (Ohio St 15.22) 6-2, 6-4
SF def. Alfredo Perez (Florida 14.43) 7-5, 6-1
F def. Hugo Di Feo (Ohio State 13.95) 6-4, 6-0

 

Hugo Di Feo’s Path to the Finals
R64 def. Jakob Amilon (UNLV 13.46) 7-5, 6-2
R32 def. Or Ram Harel (Tulsa 14.11) 6-3, 4-6, 6-4
R16 def. [5] Skander Mansouri (Wake Forest 14.26) 4-6, 7-5, 7-5
QF def. [4] Tom Fawcett (Stanford 14.48) 5-7, 6-4, 6-3
SF def. [PQ] Christian Sigsgaard (Texas 14.13) 7-6(4), 6-0
F lost to [6] Petros Chrysochos (Wake Forest 14.59) 6-4, 6-0

 

Below are a few post-match comments from Wake Forest’s recap

“Petros had a great week. Obviously he did a really good job preparing the last couple weeks — we spent a lot of time working on his fitness — and it paid off with some great tennis,” head coach Tony Bresky said. “Obviously Hugo’s a great player, and had beaten Skander [Mansouri] earlier in the tournament. Petros got off to a bit of a slow start, but his second set of tennis was possibly the best I’ve seen him play. I think this is a tribute to the work he’s put in, and it reinforces the level he can play at.”

Chrysochos was the first Demon Deacon ever to advance to the final. Romain Bogaerts reached the semifinal in 2014, as did Tripper Carleton in 2010.

“It’s nice recognition for Wake Forest to have Petros win the tournament and have Skander and Christian [Seraphim] reach the semifinals,” Bresky added. “We were the only program to be represented in both the singles and doubles semifinals, and this raises the expectation level for the team going forward.”

Cal seniors Florian Lakat and Filip Bergevi became Cal’s first All-American Doubles Champions since 1989 (Doug Eisenman/Matt Lucena) after defeating North Florida’s Jack Findel-Hawkins and Lasse Muscheites in straight sets. Bergevi and Lakat broke the Muscheites serve at love to take a 4-3 first set lead and then a few games later Lakat held from 40/15 to give Cal a 6-4 first set.

Bergevi and Lakat broke the Muscheites serve again, this time from 15/40 via a double fault, to take a 2-1 second set lead. Lakat held at love for 3-1 and then Cal broke the Findel-Hawkins serve on the deciding point to make it 4-1. After Bergevi and Muscheites exchanged holds, Lakat held at love to seal the 6-4, 6-2 win in 58 minutes.

 

Below are post-match comments from Cal and North Florida‘s recaps

 

“Filip and Florian saved their best tennis for the final, and they didn’t disappoint the crowd,” Cal head coach Peter Wright said. “Florian was hitting his serve well, and Filip punished their opponents with his high-quality returns. They faced one break point all day, and they made only one unforced error in the second set. Both of them like the pressure of being in the finals, and it clearly showed today.

“The UNF team is very strong, and they played very well all week. I think we got off to a good start and never let them into the match. I’m so proud of what these two accomplished this week. We’re also very thankful for our Cal fans coming out to support us each day.”

“It feels really good to win,” Bergevi said. “This is our first national college title, so we’re really happy about that. And we’re excited about New York.”

Bergevi also played in singles in Tulsa, in qualifying as well as in the main draw, which he says helped him prepare for doubles.

“It was good for me to be in Tulsa two days before doubles started, to play singles and to win a couple of singles matches, and then we move into doubles. Having played on the courts a bit helped me get used to them, which helped. And after playing with Flo all last spring, we’re getting better and better together.

“It was great,” Lakat said. “Filip and I played here in the spring, and we had some great matches, and we ended up playing NCAAs here but unfortunately lost in the quarters. It felt like this tournament was revenge for losing the quarters at NCAAs last year. We’re truly happy.”

“What a great run we had. I am just so proud of Lasse and Jack,” said North Florida head coach Mark Finnegan. “They handled themselves with such class and maturity all week long.”

“All of the credit goes to California on the win. They served huge and took their chances.” added Finnegan. “In terms of North Florida tennis, this is just another step in moving our program forward.Lasse and Jack can lead the way knowing that UNF can win national championships. It is so hard to put into words just how proud I am of them.”

USC freshman Brandon Holt booked his spot in the National Indoor Intercollegiates after winning the consolation singles title with a straight set win over North Carolina senior Ronnie Schneider. After Holt claimed the first set 6-3, Schneider went ahead 3-1 in the second after breaking Holt on the no-ad point. Holt broke back at love, held serve, and broke again on the no-ad point to go ahead 4-3. Schneider broke at love to even it at 4-4 but Holt broke back on the no-ad point to go back in front 5-4. Holt closed it out from 40/30 after Schneider sent a backhand long and that was the match after 1 hour and 25 minutes.

Holt picked up six ranked wins in Tulsa so I’d expect to see him inside the top 20 when the next singles rankings come out in January.