Buckeye Doubles Dominate On Thursday – Ohio State Buckeyes
9/24/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Sept. 24, 2015
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COLUMBUS, Ohio – Both sets of Buckeye doubles teams won their quarterfinal matches on Thursday sending them through the semifinals on Friday.
Connor Smith and Peter Kobelt took down second-seeded Carsten Ball in a closely contested match while Chase Buchanan and Blaz Rola dominated third-seeded Peter Polansky and Philip Bester in straight sets.
Smith and Kobelt had their hands full on Thursday with two big servers in Ball and Reid. Neither team was able to create a break point in the opening set as it headed to a tie-breaker at 6-6. Reid and Ball would end up winning the final three points of the breaker to take the first set 7-6 (7-5).
But the Buckeye duo responded by winning the first game and then breaking Ball on his serve in game two to take an early 2-0 lead. “It was huge to get that first break,” said Smith. “We were playing to big servers so I went in with the mindset that we were going to at least play one tie-breaker and we ended up play two. So winning a game on their serve is huge in doubles and we just took it and ran with it.”
The sides held serve the rest of the way as Kobelt hit some beautiful backhand winners, including one on the final point of the set to once again break Reid and win the set 6-2.
“The backhand is a stroke I’ve been working really hard on with my coach the last couple of months and it’s become more of a solid shot for me now,” Kobelt said. “I’ve got a lot more confidence now hitting it in pressure situations and I knew I would have to hit it today and it turned out good for us.”
The deciding super-breaker started out like the first set with each team holding serve. Reid and Ball went ahead 5-4 on a break but Kobelt and Smith bounced-back with three-straight points to take the upper hand. They would rally behind they momentum and close out the match 10-6.
“We got down a mini-breaker at 5-4 and then got a little lucky with a couple of errors by them but that happens in a breaker,” said Smith. “We did well to control the match the rest of the way and come out with a victory.”
Smith and Kobelt remain perfect in the Varsity Tennis Center, having won all 28 matches they have played together in the building. They were 25-0 as collegiates and have reeled-off three wins this week.
“We’re just here to have fun,” said Kobelt. “We don’t get a chance to play doubles together a whole lot so it’s fun to be out there with him and miss a shot and look over and see him laughing. It’s not all about winning or losing. It’s about just having a chance to compete together again, especially in this building.”
The night cap was a resounding win by Rola and Buchanan over third-seeded Philip Bester and Peter Polansky of Canada. Both teams had break chances early but they remained on serve until Rola and Buchanan broke on love at 4-4 and served out the set 6-4.
In the second, they former Buckeye teammates again broke on Bester and Polansky’s first serve and raced out to a 3-0 lead. That was more than enough cushion as they would go on to a 6-3 victory.
“We returned really well all match but only had a couple of looks on their serve early,” said Buchanan. “We broke at love-40 at the end of the first and then in the second, we got up on them a bit and they started freaking out a little bit.”
Buchanan played extremely well throughout the entire match. An ankle injury sidelined him for a portion of this summer but he looks to be back playing like one of the top players in the country.
“I’ve put in a lot of hard work this summer after my injury,” Buchanan continued. “I worked to get my game back to this level and I’m putting my faith in that.”
The two Buckeye doubles teams are on opposite ends of the doubles semifinal draw which means there is potential of an all OSU final. That’s something Buchanan would welcome given the opportunity.
“We both have some work to do but it would be a lot of fun to face those guys in the finals,” he said. “I think I heard those guys have never lost in this building so that would be fun to try and give them their first loss.”
Buchanan has a busy Friday ahead of him as he will take on Dennis Novikov on court one in a quarterfinal singles match at 1 p.m. Then after a suitable rest, he will join Rola to take on Quentin Halys and Joshua Milton, who knocked-off the top-seeded doubles team earlier on Thursday.
Kobelt and Smith will also be in action on Friday afternoon as they face Mitchell Krueger and Eric Quigley in the second match of the day on court 3.
