Miami's Russell wins Classic

The country's top juniorThe country's top juniorplayer claimed the PennThe country's top juniorplayer claimed the PennClassic singles title. By many indications, this weekend's Penn Conference Classic was one of the most successful in the five-year history of the event. The field was the strongest ever, and the coordination of the 32-man draw was nearly flawless. Most of the visiting teams left Philadelphia impressed with the Penn program. But the opinions of the hosts was far different. All of the accolades couldn't help the Quakers overcome a severe sense of disappointment resulting from Penn's poor showing. Not a single Penn player advanced passed the second round into the second day of competition. The only two victories for the Quakers came from the usual positions of No. 1 and No. 2 singles. Penn sophomore Udi Kish easily defeated Justin Smith of Virginia, 6-1, 6-2, before losing to the No. 2 seed, Marc Silva of Northwestern. Junior Mark Fisicaro struggled to win his first round match over Pascal Salasca from Virginia Commonwealth, 5-7, 6-2, 6-1, but then fell to the No. 4 seed, Southern Alabama's John James. The only other successful Penn showing came from sophomore Urs Baertchi who made it to the finals of the losers bracket, only to lose to Marius Swart of Southern Alabama, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3. "I was disappointed with our play on Friday, and I really got on them," Penn coach Gene Miller said. "We did not compete. We just laid down and let them beat us." In doubles competition on Saturday, the Quakers were hurt by the draw. Each of the four Penn teams drew a seed in the first round, and the Quakers lost all four matches. The heartbreaking loss by the No. 4 Penn doubles team to the No. 1 seeded team from Miami was indicative of the Penn's weekend. The Quakers team of sophomore Andrew Pozatek and freshman Dominic Rioux had a two-break, 5-0 lead in the eight-game pro set and were poised to pull off a major upset. However, after each team held serve to make it 6-1, the Hurricanes ran off five straight games, breaking the Quakers serve twice, to tie the score at six. Again, both teams held serve, but at 7-7, Miami broke Penn's serve to take control of the match. Then, after fighting off a break point, the Hurricanes held serve to win, 9-7. "Even though we lost, I was much happier with our play on Saturday," Miller said. "We competed very well but were up against really good opponents." While the Quakers struggled all weekend, Miami's Michael Russell breezed through the draw. The freshman from Bloomfield Hills, Mich., is the No. 1 ranked junior in the United States and the No. 20 ranked junior in the world. He did not lose a set in his five matches, highlighted by a 6-1, 6-3 semifinal defeat of the No. 4 seed Manuel Kropfreiter from Virginia. Commonwealth and a dominating 6-1, 6-1 finals victory over Silva. The doubles tournament was much more competitive and unpredictable than the singles draw. Since Boise State and George Washington only sent one representative each to the tournament, the two players, Ben Davidson and Anders Bergkvist, were left without doubles partners. However, Davidson and Bergkvist, who had never met before, were paired together and incredibly won the tournament. The play of this mix-and-match team prevented Russell from sweeping both the doubles and the singles tournament. In the finals, Davidson and Bergkvist beat the Hurricanes' team of Russell and freshman Ivan Rodrigo, 8-6, after almost blowing a 7-2 lead. "It was phenomenal," Miller said. "I am really happy for them and their coaches." Although the results were not satisfying, the tournament did give the host Quakers some of the stiffest competition they will face all season. "We now have two goals for the rest year," Miller said. "First, we have to remember to play the ball, not the reputation of the opponent. And second, we have to focus on competing before we can concentrate on winning."