Senior Gideon Yektai upset two seeded opponents at the Kingswood Invitational this weekend, and junior Alfi Auersperg recorded three wins as Deerfield tied for fifth in the 46th iteration of the storied tournament.
In the first singles flight, Auersperg fell to #1 seed, tournament champion, and likely league MVP Matt Kandel of Groton, before taking out a player from Hall High School and falling to Riemann of host KO in the consolation final. At first doubles, Auersperg and Matthew Wuyan lost a tight 6-4, 6-4 decision to KO’s third-seeded pair before beating opponents from Hall and Hotchkiss 8-1 and 8-3, respectively.
Yektai and junior Cosmo Hunt pulled off a huge upset in the second doubles flight, upsetting Hotchkiss’ top-seeded pair 6-4, 7-5 in the first round. After falling to Groton in the second round, they defeated Westminster by a score of 9-7 in the third-place match.
In the most compelling match of the weekend, Yektai bested KO’s Adam Na, the third seed, 4-6, 7-6 (3), 14-12 in the first round of the third singles flight. Gideon saved three match points in the swirling wind, and kept his composure under difficult circumstances. The victory earned him a match-up with second-seeded Friedland of Lawrenceville; although Gideon was up 5-2 in the first, he fell 7-6, 6-2. In the third place match, Gideon lost a tight 8-6 decision to Yang of Groton.
In fourth singles, sophomore Deepak Pathapati made his season debut, defeating Manderlink of Westy 6-3, 7-6 before falling to Coletti of Choate and Kanz of KO.
Wuyan rounded out the singles lineup, dropping a pair of tough decisions to Choate and Westminster in the second flight.
Groton won the tournament with 25 points, followed by Choate with 23 and Lawrenceville with 21. KO’s 15 earned them fourth place; Deerfield tied with Hotchkiss and edged out Westminster and Hall.
The fellas host KO at home on Wednesday. As always, the match will be live-tweeted @deerfieldtennis.