Senior Ugur Atalay and freshman Francisco Dias overcame an early 4-1 deficit Friday to post an 8-4 doubles victory over Virginia. Atalay continued on to fall in singles play to Maryland, but Dias, who is ranked No. 959 in the world by the Association of Tennis Professionals, defeated his Virginia Commonwealth opponent in singles play.
The two continued play the next day, dropping their Saturday doubles match 8-4 to the sixth-ranked pair in the country, North Carolina’s Jose Hernandez and Brennan Boyajian. Atalay dropped the first set of his singles match against Wake Forest, but won a tiebreaker in his second and took the third to win the match. He was then swept in his second singles match by his Eastern Tennessee State opponent. Dias defeated his Louisville opponent in straight sets to open his singles play Saturday, but fell to his Maryland opponent later in the day.
The defending A-10 champions opened fall play at the UVA Ranked Plus One Tournament in Charlottesville, Va. and the United States Tennis Association National Tennis Center Men’s College Invitational in Flushing, N.Y.
Sunday, Atalay and Dias wrapped play when they were defeated 8-6 by their doubles opponents from Illinois. Atalay won his singles match over his Radford opponent later in the day, but Dias was swept by his Illinois foe in his last singles match of the tournament. Despite the loss, Dias finished the tournament in fourth place.
Sophomore Ulrik Thomsen and junior Alexander van Gils opened play Friday in the Invitational when they dropped their first singles matches to Columbia and Brown opponents, respectively. The two then joined for doubles play, felling first Fordham and then Army. Senior Richard Blumenfeld and sophomore Viktor Svensson also teamed up for doubles, falling to Dartmouth but bouncing back to post a victory over Army.
In singles play Saturday, Blumenfeld defeated both of his opponents, beating first Marist and then Penn to move on to the Sunday singles finals. In the singles consolation rounds,both van Gils and Svensson fell to their Penn opponents, before Svensson defeated his Army foe.
Sunday, Blumenfeld was swept in his singles finals match by his Yale opponent, defeated 6-4, 6-4.
The Colonials return to the court Saturday, Oct. 1 at the 2011 Intercollegiate Tennis Association Men’s All-American Championships in Tulsa, Okla.
