Finally, the regular season has begun.

For the ninth-ranked Harvard men's tennis team, after two months of impressing the national pollsters with its play in national tournaments on the West Coast, yesterday was "get back to business day"--the opening of its EITA league schedule.

And the Crimson lived up to its new-found prominence, knocking off Penn, 7-2, in Philadelphia in a hard-fought battle which found six of the matches extended to three sets.

Harvard (10-4 overall, 1-0 EITA) started its efforts to catch up to undefeated Princeton, which has roared out to a 4-0 start in league play. Penn (6-9, 3-2), which entered the match in second place in the league, never really challenged the Crimson, pulling out three-set victories at first singles and third doubles but managing to win only 10 games in the other four third sets.

Harvard's doubles team of Michael Zimmerman and Michael Shyjan, ranked fifth in the nation, had no problems with Penn's Alex Schmid and Jeff Miller, cruising to a 6-4, 6-4, victory. Shyjan had previously dispatched his singles opponent, Glenn Wellin, with equal ease, 6-7, 6-1, 6-0, but Zimmerman had dropped a three-set decision to Crimson-killer Danny Levine.

Prior to Levine's loss to Roger Berry in the Quakers' 8-1 loss to Harvard in last season's opener at Beren Tennis Center, the Penn senior had beaten Berry, Captain Mark Leschly and then-Captain Arkie Engle '88 consecutively in matches against the Crimson.

This time against different competition, Captain Mark Leschly swept Devin Shaffer in singles, 6-4, 7-5, and had no problems teaming with Jon Cardi to knock off Penn's Welling and Nikos Hecht in doubles, 6-3, 7-5.

Harvard's Derek Brown and John Tolmie each captured three-set decisions in singles, with Tolmie winning his match on an 8-6 tiebreaker in the final set. The pair of sophomores then teamed up for a 7-5, 3-6, 6-3 decision in doubles over Levine and Shaffer. Crimson, 7-2 at Philadelphia

Singles Matches

1. Danny Levine (Penn) d. Michael Zimmerman (HARVARD), 5-7, 6-2, 7-6; 2. Michael Shyjan (HARVARD) d. Glenn Welling (Penn), 6-7, 6-1, 6-0; 3. Mark Leschly (HARVARD) d. Devin Shaffer (Penn), 6-4, 7-5; 4. Derek Brown (HARVARD) d. Nikos Hecht (Penn), 6-2, 5-7, 6-3; 5. John Tolmie (HARVARD) d. Doug Eden (Penn), 3-6, 6-3, 7-6; 6. Ravi Kumar (HARVARD) d. Alex Schmid (Penn), 3-6, 6-0, 6-1.

Doubles Matches

1. Zimmerman/Shyjan (HARVARD) d. Schmid/Jeff Miller (Penn), 6-4, 6-4; 2. Leschly/Jon Cardi (HARVARD) d. Welling/Hecht (Penn), 6-3, 7-5; 3. Levine/Shaffer (Penn) d. Brown/Tolmie (HARVARD), 7-5, 3-6, 6-3.