Banner Season: Quarterfinal action sets up scintillating semifinal Saturday
Markham, Ont. - Five sets of matches took to the court on day one of the OUA Tennis Championships to determine which schools would advance to the semis, and the chips fell largely in favour of the top seeds thus far.
York (6) def. Waterloo (1) - Men
York University is heading to the semifinals tomorrow where they will meet top seeded Western University.
After sweeping all three doubles matches to earn the doubles point, the Lions continued their momentum into the singles and won five out of the six singles matches to close out an 8-1 victory. The sole point for the Warriors came from Joshua Worme, who beat Pierre Spender in closely fought 3-set victory (2-6, 6-4, 10-3).
Toronto (7) def. Brock (0) - Men
The 2nd seed, University of Toronto, posted a convincing win over the Brock Badgers in the quarterfinals. The Blues won will take on McMaster in the semifinals at 3:30pm tomorrow.
There were some closely contested matches at #5 and #6 singles that went down to the wire. William Tsai (TOR) beat Gianluca Agostineloi (BRO) 1-6, 6-4, 8-0 (Ret), while Christian Krustev (TOR) beat Jeffrey Gould (BRO) in a very close two-setter, 7-6, 7-6.
McMaster (7) def. Carleton (0) - Men
McMaster University won some close matches en route to a 7-0 victory over Carleton University. With the doubles matches tied 1-1, McMaster secured the doubles point with an 8-3 win at #1 by Marko Kacar and Poorshad Afshar. They didn't look back from there and won all 6 singles matches with two contests going into third sets.
Toronto (7) def. Waterloo (0) - Women
The Varsity Blues women also recorded a convincing win against the Waterloo Warriors in their quarterfinal match-up. The Blues won all three doubles matches and seven out of the eight singles matches.
The lone win for the black and gold came from Nancy Baloescu, who beat Adelaida Allakhverdiyeva in a 3-set battle, 2-6, 6-3, 10-6 . UofT will now meet York in the semifinals scheduled for 2:00pm tomorrow.
McMaster (4) def. Brock (3) - Women
McMaster University prevailed over Brock in the most hotly contested match of the day. The team score was even at 3-3 before Marauders' Maya Emerson fought back from being a set down to record a memorable 2-6, 6-4, 6-1 win. Emerson's win clinched a spot in the semifinals and posts the best result for McMaster in the OUA Championships in more than a decade.
Upcoming Schedule:
Men's Semifinals
12:30pm Western vs. York
3:30pm McMaster vs. Toronto
Women's Semifinals
11:00am Western vs. McMaster
2:00pm Toronto vs. York