The Harvard tennis team got a key three-set triumph from substitute Andy Chaikovsky at the number six singles spot and then dominated the first two doubles clashes Saturday to down a powerful Navy squad, 6-3, in the Crimson's league opener.

Earlier in the week, the racquetmen dropped three of five tune-up contests on a swing through the South.

In fact, Harvard coach Dave Fish was afraid that the team might have worked too hard in preparation for the duel with the Midshipmen. "We were lucky that we did so well," he said last night. "Everyone was tired."

Hurt

If the fatigue wasn't enough, there were injuries to worry about too. Al Bunis, the starter at number six, missed the match in Annapolis, and Dan Waldman played hurt but still contributed a singles and a doubles victory.

It was Waldman who got the ball rolling against Navy, winning a three-set battle at number one. "It was an amazingly gutsy effort just to play at all," Fish said yesterday. "He is such an inspiration; other coaches must be dying to have him on their teams,"

In the next few contests, Navy drew even. At number two, Harvard's Todd Lundy went down in a hard-fought three sets. After Scott Walker, who played strongly all week, had disposed of his sailor foe in another battle that went the distance, a strong Navy racquetman dispatched Kevin Shaw in two sets.

Two More Wins

Harvard then took control with two more tightly contested singles victories After freshman Dan Gerken triumphed at number five, Chaikovsky put on his super-sub act at number six to win in three sets.

Those successes put the match victory within sight, and the first doubles tandem cemented it away, Waldman and Lundy sweeping to victory in straight sets.

Walker and Shaw combined to win an equally one-sided affair to put Harvard ahead, 6-2, before Gerken and Cliff Adler, who did not play a singles match, were sunk in two sets by the last Navy duo.

The five southern matches, tilts that don't count for the record, did not go well for the Crimson. After turning the Rambling Wreck of Georgia Tech into just a plain wreck, 7-2, Fish's charges fell to Georgia, 5-4.

The road-tripping racquetmen then sandwiched one-sided losses to Furman and potent South Carolina around a 6-3 victory over Presbyterian.

With Saturday's conquest, Harvard has survived the first challenge of a tough slate of league matches. Navy, a perennially strong contingent, had already beaten down powerful Columbia, 5-4, and added Penn to its list of victims.

"It was a good way to begin the season," Fish said, "but we have a lot of work left." After a two-week layoff, the squad must measure itself against Penn and Columbia, Navy's two early-season victims, along with the Yale Elis. All three matches come in one grueling, four-day stretch.