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NET GAINS
UW Tennis 2021
Led by aces Chidekh and Wong, Husky tennis teams noticed from coast-to-coast
BY BOB SHERWIN • CONTRIBUTING WRITER
First time since 1998. Then 1999. Then 2003, 2005 and 2015. That became quite a successful pattern on the tennis courts this fall for University of Washington star Clement Chidekh. The Husky junior, a native of Lyon, France, had a fabulous fall for himself to start off his second year as a Husky. Chidekh powered his way to an 11-3 record in singles. Along the way, he became the first UW player in a long time to do not just one thing, but multiple things. F • Later in October, playing on Washington’s home courts at the Nordstrom Tennis Center, Chidekh reached the championship match of the ITA Northwest Super Regional tournament. He took the first set against Stanford’s Arthur Frey, but Frey came back to take the next two and the match, 3-6, 6-3, 6-1. The last Husky to make the finals of that tournament was Mitch Stewart in 2015.
• In early October, Chidekh reached the semifinals of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association All-American Championships in Tulsa, Okla. He was the first Husky since Alex Slovic in 2007 to get that far in one of the two collegiate fall season “majors” and the first to do so in the All-American Championships since Alex Vlaski in 2003. Along the way, he defeated four ranked players in the course of three days.
• Chidekh then made it all the way to the semifinals of the ITA National Fall Championships in San Diego, the second national fall major. It is one of the most elite fields of the season, with just 32 players making it into the draw.
Competing as the No. 1 seed, Chidekh scored straight-set victories in the first round and in the round of 16. Then in the quarterfinals, he got past Ohio State’s J.J. Tracy, 6-3, 3-6, 6-2. That put him into the semis against 28th-ranked August Holmgren from the University of San Diego. Both players were in their second major semifinal of the year, and after splitting the first two sets, Holmgren ultimately prevailed, 6-0, 1-6, 6-3. Chidekh’s only three defeats of the fall season were to one tournament champion and two tournament finalists. He was the first Husky ever to reach the semifinals of both fall majors in one year. (The third of the three college majors is the NCAA Championships during the spring portion of the season.) Robert Kendrick reached the semis of the All-American Championships in 1998 and the National Indoor Championships in 1999.
Junior Clement Chidekh
Senior Vanessa Wong
UW Women’s Team Summary
While Chidekh was making his presence known on the men’s side during his first year as a Husky, Vanessa Wong was doing likewise during her fifth year on the women’s team.
On Nov. 6 Wong recorded her 100th career singles victory by defeating Nikki Redelijk of Pepperdine in the quarterfinals of the Jack Kramer Invitational in Rolling Hills Estates, California, 7-5, 6-3.
A native of Toronto, Wong is just the fourth woman in UW history to reach triple digits in the win column. Kristina Kreszewski remains on top with 111 wins from 1998-2001. Venise Chan racked up 101 from 2008-11. Wong is tied for No. 3 on that list with Dea Sumantri, who played for the Huskies from 2002-05.
Wong came into the fall ranked No. 14 nationally. Although she ultimately fell short against Pepperdine’s Shiori Fukuda in the Kramer semifinals on Nov. 7, she finished this portion of the schedule with a 100-31 record – a .763 win percentage that actually is the highest among the four Washington players who have hit the century mark for wins. The second-highest percentage in that group is Chan’s .737 (101-36).
The Kramer Invite was an especially successful outing for the Huskies. Sophomores Astrid Olsen and Sarah -Maude Fortin and senior Nika Zpuancic all reached the quarterfinal round.
Freshman Kelly Leung from Hong Kong enjoyed an impressive first season of collegiate competition. She won the singles invitational draw at the ITA Northwest Regionals, posting four consecutive straight-set victories. She and sophomore Yolanda Lin from nearby Sammamish just across Lake Washington from Seattle, to win the invitational doubles portion of that tournament.
On the men’s side, junior Ewen Lumsden reached the ITA Super Regionals quarterfinals.
Sarah-Maude Fortin
Nika Zpuancic
