The tournament began Friday afternoon with four current members of the varsity team, co-captain Alexander Centenari '13, Jacobs, De Chatellus and Ghorbani. Bryan Song '11 also participated in the meet.
Jacobs drew a tough first-round opponent, losing 6-1, 6-1 to professional tennis player Tigran Martirosyan, the top seed and eventual champion, who has been ranked as high as 361 in the world.
"My match with Tigran was tough." Jacobs said. "It was closer than the score indicates and the match was a great learning experience to get to play someone with that much international success."
The other two '13s both won their opening rounds. Centenari quickly defeated tennis professional Patrick Desroches, 6-1, 6-0, while De Chatellus bested another professional, Charles Maher, 6-1, 6-4.
Ghorbani, the fifth seed, also won his first round with scores of 6-1 and 6-2. Sixth seed Adam Gart of the University of Rhode Island defeated Song, 6-2 6-3.
The second round pitted teammates Ghorbani and De Chatellus against each other. In a long and intense battle, Ghorbani ultimately prevailed, winning 7-6, 5-7, 6-4.
In yet another lengthy match, Centenari also defeated his second round opponent, Sacred Heart University's top player, Kiril Kasyanov with a score of 6-4, 3-6, 7-6.
Centenari said he was proud of his performance, as he has been working on the technical aspects of his game, and his match against Kasyanov "was the first time [he] felt it really all came together."
The quarterfinals featured another Dartmouth matchup between Centenari and Ghorbani. Their match, similar to the prior round, went to three sets, with Ghorbani finally coming out victorious with a score of 6-7, 7-5, 6-3.
"[Centenari] and I had a grind of a singles match," Ghorbani said. "It was an extremely close match that lasted more than three hours. [Centenari's] a great player and I was lucky to pull it out."
Centenari said he "knew from the start that it was going to be a close match," but that getting the chance to play competitively during the summer has helped the Big Green players to improve and get "closer to the goal of winning an Ivy title." Ghorbani finally met his match in the semifinals, losing 6-2, 6-2 to the second seed, Louis Desmarteux,
"It felt good to make the last day of the tournament," Ghorbani said. "I practiced hard last week to try to prepare for this tournament and I was happy to reach the semifinals."
Dartmouth had an excellent doubles performance with De Chatellus and Jacobs starting out strong and winning their first round 6-2, 6-3.
"[De Chatellus] and I are great friends on and off the court." Jacobs said. "I think that sort of chemistry contributed to our success in the tournament."
De Chatellus and Jacobs met their teammate Ghorbani and his doubles partner from junior tennis, Mesa Mei, in the quarter finals. De Chatellus and Jacobs won by a score of 6-3, 6-4.
"We did a great job holding our serve and getting that essential break," De Chatellus said.
Jacobs and De Chatellus met Sacred Heart's top doubles team in the semifinals, where they were able to quickly top the Big Red, 6-3, 6-3. The dynamic team then took on the top seeds of Desmarteux and his partner Rares Petritoi in the finals. After a long match that saw many shifts in momentum, De Chatellus and Jacobs lost 6-7, 6-3, 6-4.
Both players said they were extremely satisfied with the results of the weekend.
"We both played great throughout the tournament and almost beat a very good team in the finals," Jacobs said. "I left the tournament with a bunch of confidence in my game, and think I can bring my A-game to the Dartmouth [Intercollegiate Tennis Association] next weekend."
De Chatellus added that though he and Jacobs were not accustomed to playing on a clay surface, he was able to improve his "kick serve," and Jacobs was able to better his "net game" substantially.
Several members of the team will also be participating in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association event at Dartmouth's Boss Tennis Center this coming weekend.
