Hewlett's Stephan Gershfeld advances to state individual boys singles final
Junior Stephan Gershfeld returns against Jason Shuler of Scarsdale in the state semifinal on Friday, June 3, 2022 in Flushing. Credit: Louis Lanzano
The streak didn’t end with a shout, but rather a whisper.
Run down at the end of three sets and beset by cramping when he got to match point, Hewlett’s Stephan Gershfeld looked across the net at the National Tennis Center and saw an equally exhausted Scarsdale senior Jason Shuler well behind the baseline and prepared to return another strong first serve. Instead, the Bulldogs’ junior opened with his softest lead of the day. It was so soft, in fact, that Shuler couldn’t get to it before it struck the hardcourt a second time.
It completed Gershfeld’s 6-3, 2-6, 6-1 victory in the semifinals of the state individual singles championships and gave him a victory he’d long been seeking. Gershfeld had faced Shuler seven times in seven tournaments and lost them all. Finally, he had a win against his close friend and rival.
“It’s always been in my head,” Gershfeld explained. “For me this win means more because of who it was against . . . Jason doesn’t lose matches. You have to beat him.”
Third-seeded Gershfeld will meet No. 1 Emil Grantcharov for the state individual singles championship at 8 a.m. on Saturday. Grantcharov survived Mamroneck’s Max Kalinin, 5-7, 7-5, 7-6 (7-5).
Gershfeld was brilliant on an otherwise dismal day for the Long Islanders who arrived at the singles and doubles quarterfinals with seven entries and came out with only one. He fell back 0-4 in the first set of his quarterfinal match before finding his focus to win 7-5, 6-3 over Geneva’s Drew Fishback.
“(Fishback) broke down a little bit mentally when I started to come back,” Gershfeld said. “I wasn’t going to let that happen to me against (Shuler).”
The top-seeded Ward Melville tandem of Aron Bursztyn and Shashank Pennabadi was the only other Island entry to reach a semifinal. They cruised to a straight sets quarterfinal win but collapsed late in a semifinal against Mamaroneck’s Owen Zerbib and Jinyang Li. The Patriots pair led 4-1 in the third set and lost the final five games, having their serve broken three times in a 6-7 (3-7), 6-4, 6-4 loss.
“Sometimes when you see the finish line, it gets further and further away as you do things you don’t need to do to get across it,” Patriots coach Erick Sussin said. “Aron and Shashank won a bunch of really hard points and then made unforced errors on ones that weren’t as tough.”
Commack’s Edward Liao was abandoned by his tremendous first serve but showed late grit against Kalinin before falling, 6-3, 7-6 (8-6), in a singles quarterfinal. “I didn’t have it and he played well,” Liao said. “He made me uncomfortable by making me play shots I didn’t want to play.”
In singles quarterfinals, Harborfields Christopher Qi was a straight sets victim of Grantcharov and Great Neck South’s Albert Hu lost in two sets to second-seeded Shuler.
In doubles quarterfinals, Bursztyn and Pennabadi topped Williamsville South’s Marino Zinaja and Henry Miller, but Kavin Shukla and Aaron Raja of Wheatley and Candrin Chris and Amir Pazy of Port Washington both lost their matches in straight sets.
“In high school, it would be a great thing to know you were a state champion,” Greshfeld said. “It would mean a lot to finish with a nice win.”
Roger Rubin returned to Newsday in 2018 to write about high schools, colleges and baseball following 20 years at the Daily News. A Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2011, he has covered 13 MLB postseasons and 14 NCAA Final Fours.
