It was another challenging day yesterday for Arizona men’s tennis, which ended its stay at the Polo Ralph Lauren All-American Championship in Tulsa, Okla., as junior Claudio Christen and sophomore Peter Zimmer lost in the qualifying round of the doubles event.
“”All in all, I think we did OK,”” UA head coach Tad Berkowitz said.
Christen and Zimmer fell to North Carolina juniors Lenny Gullman and David Stone, 8-6. The loss came after both UA players were eliminated in the qualifying round of the singles event on Monday.
Although Berkowitz is not positive that the pair will be competing together as a doubles team in the spring, he said he liked what he saw from the pair.
“”They have good chemistry, and I think they can really improve together,”” he said.
In the consolation draw, which was also yesterday, Christen won the second set 6-4 against Auburn senior Robbert Lathouwers, which forced a tiebreaker match. He saw his hopes of taking home a victory in the tournament fall apart when he lost 10-8 in the tiebreaker.
As the Arizona men concluded their run in the tournament, an event in which Christen, Zimmer and junior Bruno Alcala competed for the first time in their careers, Berkowitz was especially pleased with Zimmer’s first performance at the tournament, as he streamed together the Wildcats’ longest run in the event, winning three matches in pre-qualifying.
“”He took a step up and proved to himself that he could compete with some of the better players in the country,”” Berkowitz said.