QUEENS, N.Y. — Columbia men's tennis first-year
Max Westphal is a US Open champion.
Alongside doubles partner Coleman Wong (Hong Kong), Westphal (France) defeated No. 7 seeds Viacheslav Bielinskyi (Ukraine) and Petr Nesterov (Bulgaria) 6-3, 5-7 [10-1] Saturday afternoon at the US Open Boys' Doubles Championships held at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.
"First off, congratulations to Max and his partner on becoming Junior Grand Slam and US Open Doubles Champions," Columbia men's tennis assistant coach
Rich Bonfiglio said. "Max has had a stellar junior career competing in all of the Junior Grand Slams, as well as reaching No. 24 in the ITF Junior Rankings. Becoming a US Open champion is an incredible way to cap it. We're extremely proud of Max and are really excited ot have him compete as a member of the Columbia men's tennis program."
Westphal, who is in New York City for the first time and attending his first week of classes at Columbia, began his doubles draw with Wong on Tuesday, opening with a 3-6, 7-6 (7-1) [10-4] victory, followed by a 4-6, 6-2 [10-3] triumph in the second round on Wednesday to advance to Thursday's quarterfinals.
Rain pushed the quarterfinals out to Friday, but that didn't put a damper on the dramatic comebacks. Westphal and Coleman got past Americans Anthrop/Kittay 4-6, 6-3 [10-7] to earn their spot in the semis, where later that day they defeated Kuzuhara/Poljicak 6-4, 4-6 [10-4], sealing their spot in Saturday's championship.
Just as the rest of their doubles matches were decided, the final went to a tiebreak. However, there was little drama in the end, as Westphal and Wong slammed Bielinskyi/Nesterov 10-1 in the tiebreak to claim the title.
The doubles draw wasn't all Westphal was involved in over the past week either. The talented 18-year-old from Paris also competed in the Jr. Boys' Singles, where he took down No. 29 Peter Privara in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3. His singles run ultimately ended in the second round after a hard-fought battle with No. 16 Alexander Bernard 6-3, 7-6 (7-5), in which Westphal had multiple set points in the second set.
Earlier this summer, Westphal advanced to the third round of both the singles and doubles draw at the Junior Wimbledon Championships.
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