Morris, Levine advance in state tennis
Josh Levine of Cold Spring Harbor won his second-round singles match against Nick Crystal from Amherst in 6-2, 6-3 in the NYSPHSAA boys tennis state championship at the United States Tennis Center in Flushing, NY. (June 3, 2011) Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
The end was near for Garden City's Zach Morris.
But he saved three match points and somehow dug himself out of a 5-2 third-set ditch to survive another day.
Morris, the 2010 Nassau champion, defeated No. 5 Alex Tsai of Binghamton, 3-6, 6-2, 7-5, in the quarterfinals of the NYSPHSAA boys tennis state championships at Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows on Friday.
He will face No. 1 seed and defending champion Jeremy Court of New Rochelle in the semis Saturday at 8 a.m.
"This is what I've waited for," said Morris, who beat Newburgh Free Academy's Dennis Sult, 6-1, 6-3, in the second round.
The wait has been long and sometimes frustrating for the senior. In three prior state tournamentss, Morris never made it past the second round.
Three match points in the third set, score at 5-3, were all that separated Morris from another disappointing exit. On the first match point, he struck a forehand winner. The second one came via a running forehand that caught the baseline.
"If he wasn't an honest kid, he would have called it out . . . and it would have been over," Morris said.
On the final match point, he stepped forward on a weak serve from Tsai, nailing a return winner for deuce. "I have faith in my game," Morris said. "I just kept telling myself, 'you are not losing this.' "
At 5-5, cramping forced Tsai to call an injury timeout. Once play resumed, Morris won the final two games with ease.
After the match, Morris sat on a bench outside the court and was approached by Tsai's mother. She congratulated him and said: "The last four tournaments my son has played, the kid he lost to made the finals."
Morris smiled.
Morris will be joined in the semis by second-seed Josh Levine of Cold Spring Harbor, who upended Southampton's Jeremy Dubin, 6-2, 6-3. This is Levine's second straight semifinal appearance.
"I just had to stay out there and come up with bigger shots, which I did," Levine said.
Levine will meet sixth-seed Matt Nardella of Christian Brothers Academy.
New Rochelle's Court eliminated Farmingdale's Brendan Henry in the quarters, 6-3, 6-3. Earlier, Henry won his second-round match over Francis Lewis' Daniel Lakhman, 6-1, 3-1 (ret.).
Hills East's Chris Hunter and Eric Bertuglia were the only Long Island doubles team to advance to the semis, defeating Great Neck North's Doron Saraf and Jared Lewis, 7-6 (3), 2-6, 6-4. They next draw No. 1 Ben Fife and Austin Kaplan of Scarsdale.
Fife and Kaplan earned their spot in the semis with a 6-1, 6-4 victory against Cold Spring Harbor's Jon Paris and Conor Mullins. Suffolk champions Felipe Reis and Henry Lee of Ross lost in the quarters to Armonk Byram Hills' Kyle Berman and Jordan Kaufman, 6-2, 6-1.
