Ward Melville's Aron Bursztyn, Shashank Pennabadi advance in state doubles
Stephan Gershfield of Hewlett competes in the New York State boys tennis individual singles championships at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on Thursday. Credit: Louis Lanzano
Aron Bursztyn envisioned it all coming together at the end of this, his final high school boys tennis season. The Ward Melville senior was teaming in doubles with his younger brother Gabriel, a junior, and the duo figured to be a hard out come state tournament time. But then the vision had to change a few weeks ago when the younger Bursztyn suffered a back injury.
That’s where freshman Shashank Pennabadi came into the picture. He and Bursztyn were not only Patriots teammates but also trained together in the off-season. They struck a deal to join forces and thus Bursztyn and Bursztyn became Bursztyn and Pennabadi. The joint venture hasn’t missed a beat.
The Ward Melville duo was surprised the seeding committee for the New York State Public High School individual championships affixed to them the No. 1, but they’re wearing it well. They won their first two matches on Thursday in straight sets at the National Tennis Center and will play in a quarterfinal on Friday.
The Long Island singles players also showed their mettle in the first two rounds of singles play with all six entries, three each from Nassau and Suffolk, winning their first match. Four of them — Hewlett’s Stephan Gershfeld, Commack’s Edward Liao, Harborfields’ Christopher Qi and Great Neck South’s Albert Hu — advanced to Friday’s quarterfinal round without dropping a set.
“It was disappointing that [Gabriel] got injured, but I am really enjoying playing with [Pennabadi],” Bursztyn said. “He has an aggressive style to his game and we’ve done really well.”
They won two matches in the regular season, then captured nine straight matches to win division and Suffolk County championships. The run is 11 now after beating Williamsville South’s Marino Zinaja and Henry Miller, 6-3, 7-6 (7-3), in the first round and Pittsford Sutherland’s Dylan Bhatia and Charles Thyroff, 7-5, 6-1.
“We saw right away that the competition here is really tough plus everyone is gunning for the No. 1,” Bursztyn said. “But we’ve played really well together. The chemistry is there.”
Joining the Patriots team in the doubles quarterfinals are Kavin Shukla and Aaron Raja of Wheatley and Candrin Chris and Amir Pazy of Port Washington. The Wheatley tandem needed three sets to win their first-round match and then won 6-0, 6-0 in the second round against Union-Endicott’s Matt Denmon and Alex Scalcione.
The Port Washington pair survived a first-round 7-5, 6-3 battle with Commack’s Matthew Strogach and James Yu and crushed Fayetteville-Manlius’ Davin Woolridge and Jaden Duggal, 6-0, 6-1, in the second round.
Harshith Pennabadi of Ward Melville and Michael Safir of Jericho won two of the most entertaining and inspiring first-round matches only to fall in the second round.
Safir topped Albany Academy’s Krishnadhev Jammula 5-7, 6-1, 6-2 before being ousted in straight sets by top-seeded Emil Grantcharov of New Rochelle.
Harshith Pennabadi fought off two match points in the second set and rebounded to beat Gurv Suri of Cornwall Central in a 2-6, 7-6 (3), 6-1 endurance test. Fatigue from that win led to a number of unforced errors as he lost his second-rounder to Geneva’s Drew Fishback in straight sets.
“It took a long time to adjust to speed of these courts,” Harshith Pennabadi said. “I finally found my rhythm when I had my back to the wall in the [first] match. . . . I was a little sore and tired after that. I hit balls into the net at the end of rallies and that’s me not moving my feet.”
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.
