By Greg Schain
Daily Bruin Reporter
It was a winning weekend for Marcin Matkowski.
The sophomore tennis player won both the singles and doubles
title at the preseason ITA Region VIII-South Championships at
Pepperdine.
The unseeded Matkowski survived a 64-man draw to claim the
title. His march to the championships included wins over No. 8 seed
Steven Capriati of Arizona, top-seeded Al Garland of Pepperdine and
teammate Tobias Clemens in the semifinals, seeded No. 6 in the
tournament. In the finals, Matkowski defeated No. 4 Stefan Suter of
Pepperdine, 6-4, 6-4.
“I was really confident on the court throughout the
tournament,” Matkowski said. “My strokes were right
there, and with every match I won I was getting better and
better.”
According to head coach Billy Martin, the tournament victory
will move the Poland native into contention for the top singles
spot when dual match play begins in the winter.
“I’ve got a long way to go before I have to make
that decision, but he definitely showed he can compete with those
guys,” Martin said.
By “those guys,” Martin is referring to junior
Jean-Julien Rojer and sophomore Tobias Clemens, two other players
competing for the glory that comes with playing at No. 1.
The strong showing by the whole team in the tournament is an
encouraging sign for Martin. He was thrilled that Clemens made it
to the semifinals and that junior Lassi Ketola won the consolation
singles title.
“I really thought the level of play for our whole team
really came along,” Martin said. The top-seeded team of
Matkowski and Rojer teamed up to defeat the No. 2 tandem of
Sebastien Graeff and Suter of Pepperdine, 8-5, to win the doubles
championship.
As a result of winning the regional tournament, Matkowski has
earned an automatic berth into the Omni Hotels National Indoor
Championship to be held at the Brookhaven Tennis Club in Dallas on
Nov. 8-11.