October 1, 2007
BRYAN WINS WILSON/ITA MIDWEST TENNIS SINGLES TITLE, BRYAN & PAUKERT CAPTURE DOUBLES CHAMPIONSHIP

Andy Bryan emerged a double champion at the Wilson/ITA Midwest Regional Tennis championship held at Gustavus last weekend, but only by the narrowest margin.  In the singles final teammate John Kauss was serving at 5-4 in the third set, but Andy picked up his intensity and came back to win the last three games.  The consistency, power, and quickness by both players were remarkable.

Andy's doubles victory with Charlie Paukert was unbelievable.  In the doubles semifinal Andy and Charlie Paukert trailed teammates Ben Tomasek and Nick Hansen 7-4 in an eight game pro set.  Down two match points they stormed back to win the last five games and the pro set 9-7.  However, the most surprising comeback came in the doubles final against teammates Mike Burdakin and John Kauss.   Burdakin and Kauss were serving at 5-4, 40-love in the second set after winning the first.  Their tough, well-placed serves were countered by even better returns. Bryan and Paukert saved four match points en route to a 10-7 super breaker victory.

To be so close, yet to lose both championships, was a bitter pill for Kauss to swallow.  However, he was clearly the most improved player in the tournament in both singles and doubles.  Every aspect of his game, including a constant, positive attitude, took him to a new level far beyond last year.  He can note that Andy Bryan suffered the same frustrating losses last year in the singles and doubles finals, almost by the same scores.  Then Andy went on to achieve his most successful year ever.

The domination of the doubles tournament by Gustavus surprised even Coach Wilkinson.  The top 53 doubles teams from Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minnesota participated, and the final four were all Gusties.  Aaron Zenner and David Koppel were the fourth semifinalists.  The last time Gustavus had four semifinalist teams was 2002, when Eric Butorac and Kevin Whipple won the championship, Adam Morgan and Brett-Morse Karzen were finalists, and Ben Lundell/Kyle Anderson and Roy Bryan/Tim Gruenisen were semifinalists.   This is the fifteenth straight year that a Gustavus team has won the Midwest doubles championship.

In singles the Gusties also dominated as three advanced to the semifinals (Bryan, Kauss, and Burdakin), five to the quarterfinals (Paukert and Tomasek), and seven to the round of 16 (Hansen and Aaron Zenner). Zenner eliminated #4 seed Robin Borg, son of tennis legend Bjorn Borg.  Nick Hansen beat #8 seed Gianandrea Heyer, nationally ranked player from Switzerland.   Ben Tomasek took out #9 seed Winston Park from Carleton and #13 seed Jack Schiro from Carthage before losing in three sets to Andy Bryan.  Mike Burdakin eliminated #3 seed Max Busch, top player from Luther, and #6 seed Colin Russell, top player from Carleton.   From the Round of 16 forward Gusties lost only one match to a player from another team.  Now Gusties have won eight straight singles titles.  

In the Midwest Open Carleton notched both the singles and doubles titles.  Julian Tokarev beat Theo Roth from Gustavus, and Jordan Hughes/Jacob Raim defeated teammates Austin Taylor/EirikThoen.  Kyle Olson and Ashok Jethwa from Gustavus lost in the semifinals.  In the doubles Gusties Matt Nelson/Josh Knutson and Mike Eastman/Eric Ice both advanced to the quarterfinal round.

The weekend action featured 19 Gusties playing singles and 18 playing doubles in either the Wilson/ITA Midwest Tournament or the Midwest Open.  One hundred ninety seven players from 23 schools participated.  Bryan and Paukert now advance to the Wilson/ITA national tournament in Mobile, Alabama from October 11 to 14.