Sept. 23, 2012
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The Purdue men's tennis team capped off an outstanding weekend at the Purdue Invitational on Sunday. The Boilermakers brought home four trophies including two singles main draw titles.
Mark Kovacs won the Flight A Singles Championship with a pair of victories on Sunday. In the morning, the junior defeated Michael Tenzer of Green Bay, 7-6(6), 6-4, to reach the championship match. On the opposite side of the bracket, teammate Diego Acosta faced Zack Mueck of Xavier. Acosta came out on top in straight sets for the first time in the tournament, winning 7-5, 6-3. The win set the match between Kovacs and Acosta for the title.
There, Kovacs cruised to a first set win of 6-2 as Acosta seemed tired. However, the sophomore rallied in the second set to win 6-4, and force the deciding frame. In the end, though, Kovacs used his powerful serves and lefty forehand to hang on 6-3 to capture the Flight A Singles crown. Kovacs won every match in straight sets except for his battle with Acosta.
In Flight B, Evan Hawkins was in the semifinals and faced Kyle Johnson of DePaul. The Purdue sophomore had little trouble in the match and cruised to a 6-2, 6-1 victory to advance to the championship. There, he faced Nick Volz of IUPUI. Hawkins set the tone early and dominated the match as he won 6-1, 6-3. Hawkins did not drop a set in the B Flight en route to his championship.
Szymon Tatarczyk was alive in the Flight C seminfinals. There, he had to face Grant Adams of Toledo who had been dominant to that point in the tournament. Tatarczyk stayed poised and was overpowering with a 6-1, 6-4 win to reach the finals. In the finals, Tatarczyk was again faced with a Toledo Rocket. This time it was Nicky Wong who had dropped just one set in the tournament. In the end, Wong wore down Tatarczyk and knocked off the Boilermaker, 7-5, 6-2.
Arthur Dobradin was the only other Boilermaker in action on Sunday. He played a pair of consolation matches and went 1-1 on the day. Dobradin picked up the first singles win of his Purdue career as he knocked off Bradley of IUPUI 8-4 in a proset.
The Boilermakers will be back in action next week. Select members from the team will be in the ITA All-Americans in Tulsa, Okla. Draws will be announced later in the week.