The Clippers men's tennis team participated in the Stony Brook Invitational this past weekend. With the four singles brackets and two doubles brackets the Clippers looked to dominate in each one.
The Doubles A bracket pitted two Clipper pairs in the final; Andrey Boldarev/Daniele Piludu and Geza Bazula/Tamas Dobrotka. Boldarev and Piludu's road to the Championship began with a bye in the first round. The pair then earned two service breaks on their way to the semi-finals with an 8-4 victory. Boldarev and Piludu stayed on serve through 6-6 in the semi-final round before finishing their opponents off 8-6 for a shot at the championship.
Bazula and Dobrotka road started as they easily took their first round match 8-2. With a couple of service breaks in their second round match the pair went onto the semi's with an 8-4 score. Bazula and Dobrotka then repeated their second round score for a chance at the championship against their teammates.
Boldarev and Piludu stayed on their service game as well as Bazula and Dobrotka through four games a piece. With both sets of partners working hard it was Boldarev and Piludu who earned the break. Boldarev and Piludu grabbed another break from their teammates before grabbing the Championship in the Doubles A bracket with an 8-4 victory.
The Doubles B bracket housed the two remaining pairs of Clippers; Andreas Lindell/David Tisserand and Felix Missal/Ricardo Frey. Lindell and Tisserand received a bye in the first round and took that energy into their second round. Lindell and Tisserand were successful in their second round as they collected an 8-4 win to send them into the semi-finals. With the score tied at 5-5 in the semi's the Clipper pair was then broken and could not recover it as they fell 8-5.
Missal and Frey's first round was an easy one for them as they advanced to the second round with an 8-1 score. Dropping just three games in the second round Missal and Frey moved on with an 8-3 victory to the semi-finals. Missal and Frey struggled in their semi-final match as they were unable to grab a game before being defeated.
The Singles D bracket hosted just one Clipper; Tamas Dobrotka. Dobrotka glided into the second round after an 8-1 win. He then just let one game slip through his fingers on his way to the semi-finals of the D bracket with a 6-0; 6-1 victory. Dobrotka continued to work hard on court through out his semi-final match. After the first set win of 6-1, he went on to complete the match for a shot at the D bracket championship with a second set score of 6-2. Dobrotka's final match started as he was broken at 5-5 in the first set. Dobrotka then changed the momentum in the second set taking it with a 6-2 win to force a deciding third set. Continuing to use his new found momentum, Dobrotka took the D bracket with a third set 10-3.
The Singles C bracket pitted two Clipper against each other in the finals; Geza Bazula and Andreas Lindell. Bazula breezed through his first round 8-2 and then followed it up with a dominating 6-0; 6-0 second round score. Bazula took the first set of his semi-final match 6-0. As his opponent stayed with him in the second set Bazula finally got a break point and took the match with a second set score of 6-4.
Lindell stayed on serve through his first match through 4-4 before
earning a couple of breaks to take the first match 8-4.
Lindell moved on from their as he stepped up his game to dominate
the second round with a 6-2; 6-0 victory. Lindell's
semi-final match started with a back and forth, holding service
game first set until Lindell broke his opponent at 5-5 to capture
the first set. Lindell was broken in the second set on his
fourth service game and forced to play a deciding third set.
Lindell shifted the momentum back to his game and took the third
set to advance to the C bracket championship with a 10-2
win.
The Singles B brack also housed two Clippers; Felix Missal and David Tisserand. Tisserand started with a clean 8-0 win for the first round. Tisserand then pushed his first set in the second round to 5-5 before he was broken. The second set saw a break go to Tisserand for a 6-4 win to force a third set tiebreaker. Unfortunately Tisserand fell in the third set 10-3.
Missal let one game slip by for his first round win of 8-1.
Missal was then uphanded by his opponent as he was broken once in
the first set and then three more times in the second set to fall
4-6; 0-6.
The Singles A bracket hosted the Clippers top doubles pair; Andrey Boldarev and Daniele Piludu. Piludu started off with an easy 8-1 victory sliding him into the second round. Piludu then went through to the semi-final round with a 6-1; 6-1 win. The semi-final match for Piludu was a struggle as he was broken in the first set. Down one set Piludu then took control in the second set to a 6-1 win in the second and forced a tiebreaker. The third set tie breaker was a back and forth one but unfortunately Piludu fell 10-7.
Boldarev received a bye in the first round and move quickly on
court in his second round. After a 6-2 first win Boldarev
then went on to take the second set with little trouble as he
posted a 6-3 score. He then let just one game in his first
set of the semi-finals go through before completing his match with
a 6-1; 6-3 victory, placing him in the championships of the A
bracket. Boldarev's championship match was a dominating one
as he let just two games go to his opponent before collecting his
6-1; 6-1 win for the championship.
The Clippers pair of Boldarev and Piludu will head to Mobile, AL for the ITA Nationals Doubles tournament while Boldarev competes in the singles tournament as well from October 14th-17th.
Click below for the completed brackets.