Lingman and Martire Advance in ITAs

The 2001 Omni ITA Eastern Regional Championship belonged to Harvard sophomore Courtney Bergman.

But this year, it will be her teammates, sophomores Susanna Lingman and Alexis Martire competing for a place in the finals, as the Crimson hosts the final day of action tomorrow.

Bergman, who was last year’s champion and competed at Nationals, fell yesterday to No. 5 Dalila Causevic of Maryland, 7-6(5), 4-6, 6-4.

“I played decent tennis today,” Bergman said. “Causevic just overpowered me.”

Now Martire, seeded No. 9, will face Causevic in the semifinals, and she is confident heading into the match.

“It should be a good match,” Martire said. “She’s tough, but she’s beatable.”

Lingman, seeded No. 5, will meet William and Mary’s Megan Muth, who is seeded No. 25, this morning.

A victory in the semifinals for Lingman or Martire would mean a trip to the National Championships, held in Dallas on Nov. 7.

Martire advanced to the semifinals with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 win over Temple’s Danira Petric and a victory over Jen Tuchband of Virginia, 6-1, 6-3.

Lingman defeated No. 17 Mia Marovic of Temple, 7-4, 6-3, and then beat Princeton’s Neha Uberoi, 6-4, 2-6, 6-4, to advance to the semifinals.

Bergman, paired with Lingman, also competed in the doubles competition. The pair decisively won its quarterfinal match against Penn State’s Katie Wang and Megan Morton, 8-2, but then fell to Jessica Johnson and Alice Sukner of Marshall in the semifinals.

The other two Harvard duos fell in the quarterfinal matchups. The freshmen tandem of Melissa Andersen and Eva Wang lost to Penn’s Shelah Chao and Alice Pirsu.

The Crimson team of Martire and captain Sanja Bajin fell 8-3 in their quarterfinal match-up against Maryland’s Causevic and Emily Marker.

While there have been some unexpected losses in the tournament for the Crimson, given the original seeds, Harvard coach Gordon Graham was optimistic about the team’s performance.

“We have two players in the semifinals, and advanced three doubles teams as far as the quarters,” Graham said. “It shows the depth and strength of the team. It’s been a promising tournament.”