The Crimson bounced back from its disappointing defeat to the Cardinal in the main bracket with a dominating performance at the expense of the Badgers. Coming out onto the courts with something to prove, Harvard got off to a ferocious start and nearly posted a shutout against a Wisconsin squad that was overwhelmed despite playing on its home court in Madison.
“We walked away from [Stanford] realizing how good we are,” Bergman said. “We wanted to use it as a positive thing.”
A brisk round of doubles play provided a good omen for the remainder of the match, with the Crimson sweeping the three encounters. The teams of Durkin and Anderson and Wang and Mukundan clinched the point with wins at the No. 2 and 3 slots, 8-2 and 8-1 respectively.
The most impressive bit of pairs play was at the top of the ladder, with the new No. 1 team of Bergman and O’Riain rallying to knock off national No. 27 Lindsay Martin and Kate McGaffigan, 8-4.
“We have three super solid teams,” Bergman said. “It’s important to be solid in all three positions and we are.”
When singles began, the rout was on. Durkin won her match at No. 2 handily—6-4, 6-1—and Anderson triumphed over her foe, 6-2, 6-1. O’Raian topped a higher-ranked opponent in prolonged fashion, besting No. 52 McGaffigan 7-6 (3), 4-6, 6-0.
With things decided, the other half of the singles rotation got in its work. Mukundan and Martire both prevailed in straight sets, but Wang lost a second-set tiebreaker in a three-set loss at No. 4 that finally got Wisconsin on the board.
—Staff writer Jonathan Lehman can be reached at jlehman@fas.harvard.edu.