In his first three years with the Harvard men’s tennis team, captain Jonathan Chu earned three singles berths to the NCAA tournament. Now, in his final year with the Crimson and his fourth trip to the individual competition, Chu has finally tasted victory—and not just once, but twice.

With a 6-3, 6-1 victory over Pepperdine’s Pedro Rico in Wednesday’s first round and a 6-2, 6-4 win over California’s No. 13 Conor Niland yesterday, Chu clinched a spot in the tournament’s round of 16 in College Station, Tex.—a position that guarantees him All-America status.

“I didn’t win a singles match [my first three years],” said Chu, the bracket’s No. 32 seed, “so for me to be able to do, twice, is great. I kind of felt like I got the monkey off my back after I won my first singles match.”

Particularly pleasing was the fact that Chu’s first victory came over Rico, who had defeated Crimson freshman Ashwin Kumar nearly two months ago in a dual match—Chu had been sidelined by an abdominal injury at the time—and beaten Dave Lingman ’04 during Harvard’s 2004 spring break trip to California.

“It was really nice to beat that guy from Pepperdine,” Chu laughed.

Though Harvard did not make the NCAA team tournament—a major disappointment for the team that nearly knocked off then-No. 1 and undefeated Illinois in last year’s Sweet 16—the time off allowed Chu to focus on his singles play, rehabilitate his torn abdominal muscle, and practice with doubles partner Kumar.

Seeded No. 30 out of 32 teams in the doubles draw, Chu and Kumar, pulled of a 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 upset over Tennessee’s Ben Rogers and Ockie Oosthuizen, the tournament’s ninth duo.

“They were tough,” Chu said, “but obviously, we know we’re a tough team [too].”

Squads such as Tennessee, which compete in strong divisions like the Southeastern Conference (SEC), face a much stronger strength of schedule than does Harvard, which competes in the relatively weak Ivy League. As a result, Chu and Kumar and their Ivy foes are less likely to carry a high national ranking, though that hasn’t stopped them so far.

“This is the center of the year,” Chu said, “and this is the biggest college tennis tournament ever, and so for [Kumar] to be able to step in and perform at this level, as a freshman, is very impressive.”

The duo will face Southern California’s Jamil Al-Agba and Johan Berg, the No. 35 seed, today at 3:30 p.m. That match will be preceded by Chu’s Sweet 16 singles appearance, which kicks off at 12 p.m. against Texas’ Travis Helgeson.

—Staff writer Rebecca A. Seesel can be reached at seesel@fas.harvard.edu.