ROME, Ga. – After losing the first set, sophomore Boris Sorkin of the Tufts University men's tennis team rallied to defeat the #1 seed at the ITA Cup DIII singles championship today.
Facing Emory University's Jonathan Jemison, the ITA South Region champion who is seeded first out of the eight players in the draw this week, Sorkin dropped his first set 7-5. However, he came back to post 7-5 and 6-3 wins to take the match. Sorkin is the #4 seed in the tournament.
He will now play for the ITA Cup DIII singles championship on Saturday against Chad Leduff from UC Santa Cruz. Leduff defeated Alan Dubrovsky from Hobart 6-2, 6-2 in Friday's other semi-final. The start time for Saturday's final is 8:30 am.
The Jumbo sophomore qualified for the ITA Cup by winning the ITA New England regional championship. He started ITA Cup play on Thursday by defeating Jake Trondson from Hamline 6-4, 6-1 in the quarterfinals.
"Both Boris and his opponent play similar games of good speed, court coverage and defensive play," Tufts head coach Karl Gregor said about Friday's semi-final match from Georgia. "In the end Boris was mentally tough and forced his opponent into making more mistakes down the stretch. He also loosened up a bit in the second and third sets and was able to control points better by hitting a little bigger."
The competition is being held at the Rome Tennis Center at Berry College.