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W. Tennis Pounds On Big Red, Lions In Opener

The Harvard women's tennis team tore its way through the Ivy League this weekend, handing Columbia a 5-2 defeat Saturday afternoon in Ithaca, N.Y., and escaping with a close 4-3 victory over Cornell Friday.

"We've been training [for the Ivies] all year long, and now we feel really prepared and confident," said senior Sanah Ghazal. "It's nice to have two wins under our belt already."

The Crimson (9-7, 2-0 Ivy) won two of its three doubles matches against Columbia and added victories in singles action from Ghazal, sophomore Sanja Bajin, junior Fleur Broughton and junior Jennie Timoney.

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The Crimson's No. 1 doubles team of Bajin and Ghazal won an easy 8-3 victory over the Lions' Joyce Chang and Weintraub. Broughton and Andrea Magyera, playing as the No. 2 team, defeated Shelly Mittal and Etel Bugescu, 8-4.

In Harvard's only doubles loss, Columbia's Melissa Nguyen and Leena Krishnaswamy overwhelmed the Crimson's Lola Ajilore and junior Sarah McGinty, 8-5.

After the doubles matches had finished, the focus turned to the top four singles matches. Playing at the No. 3 spot, Broughton was the first Crimson player at bat, coming away with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Chang.

The battle between the top two players, Bajin and Nguyen, was filled with exciting baseline grounders, but Bajin eventually overpowered Nguyen, 6-3, 6-4.

The highlight of the tournament was the No. 2 match-up between Ghazal and Mittal, which was the only match to last three sets. After splitting the first two sets, Ghazal surged ahead to take a commanding 4-1 lead in the third set, but Mittal soon rebounded to tie the game at four. Ultimately, Ghazal inched ahead to ultimately win the third set, 7-6.

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