This past weekend, William and Mary traveled to compete at the Duke James Bonk Invitational, hosted by Duke in Durham, North Carolina. The team brought four players to North Carolina Wilmington and had an impressive showing among some of their younger members, particularly on Saturday when the Tribe went undefeated (5-0). Other members of the team also traveled to compete at the Farnsworth-Ivy Plus Invitational in Princeton, New Jersey the same weekend.
Sophomore Joseph Brailovsky and freshman George Davis are new to the team this year, and both had a strong showing. On the first day of play, the pair were able to upset the top seed in the White Doubles Draw, UNCW’s Michael Copeland and Austin Hussey, 6-3. At the semifinals in the White Doubles Draw that Friday, Davis and Brailovsky put on a strong showing for their second win, 6-4, against Furman’s Ivan Mitric and Jake Bhangdia. The dynamic duo completed their winning streak the next day with a strong victory in the championship match, only losing one game against North Florida’s Dominik Barton and Joe Ellis.
In the other doubles competition Friday, the Royal Doubles Draw, juniors Sebastian Quiros and Chen Ruo lost their first match in an intense tiebreaker, 7-6 (7), to North Carolina State’s Robin Catry and Tristan Smith. The pair recovered to win their second match, 6-4, against Elon’s Dino Bonetta and Maxwell Zucker. Saturday, Quiros and Ruo lost to Liberty’s Goncalo Ferreira and Deji Thomas-Smith, 6-4. Quiros and Davis both lost in singles competitions, Quiros in the White Singles Draw to Elon’s Camilo Ponce, 7-5, 4-6, 6-3, and Davis in the Royal Singles Draw to NC State’s Colin Shick, 7-5, 6-4.
In Friday’s Black Singles Draw, Ruo bested George Washington’s Victor Putter in a three–set win, 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 (3). He continued his success the following day, beating Charlotte’s Cole Brainard 7-5, 6-4 and subsequently winning against Liberty’s Joseph Emerson 7-5, 6-2.
Saturday, Brailovsky and Davis also performed well in their singles matches. Brailovsky played in the White Singles Draw and defeated Charlotte’s Henry Lieberman 6-0, 6-1, losing only one game. Davis was competing in the Royal Singles Draw and won both his matches. In his first, against Charlotte’s Colin Thomson, he struggled in the first set, losing 7-5, but came back resoundingly to win the second set 6-3 and win the third set in an exciting tiebreaker, 7-6 (5). In Davis’s second match, he lost his first set 6-4 to GW’s Breno Plentz, but managed to win in the second and third sets 6-3, 7-5 to win the match, which brought his singles record to 2-1 for the weekend.
Sunday was a less successful day for the Tribe, with all three single players defeated in their matches. Ruo, competing in the Black Singles Draw, lost in a third set 10-point tiebreaker to Virginia Tech’s Ryan Kros, 6-4, 2-6, 10-3. In the White Singles Draw, Brailovsky lost in two sets to Mississippi State’s Davide Tortora, 7-5, 6-4. Finally, Davis also lost in two sets in the Royal Singles Draw to Duke’s Samuel Rubell, 6-4, 7-5.
Next, the Tribe will travel to Tulsa, Oklahoma to take part in the Saint Francis Health System ITA Men’s All-American Championships Oct. 5-13.