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Defending champs
reach quarterfinals
Bruggemann and Chen defeat
Baldemor and Laws 6-2, 7-6 (1)
Things rarely come easy for Michael Bruggemann and Erich Chen when they take the court at Kailua Racquet Club. But they seem to prefer a little adversity in their matches.
After the rains that swept through Windward Oahu on Tuesday interrupted their first-round match in the KRC Men's Night Doubles Tournament, the top-seeded duo and defending champions held off a challenge from Randy Baldemor and Ryan Laws last night to advance to the quarterfinals.
"I think every match is a struggle for us; that's the way we like it," Bruggemann said after teaming with Chen for a 6-2, 7-6 (1) win that stretched over two days.
If last night's dry conditions persist, three quarterfinal matches are scheduled to be played today starting at 6 p.m. The winners advance to tomorrow's semifinals. The championship match is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Saturday.
The semifinals were originally set to be played today, but the rains this week backed up the schedule by a day.
Bruggemann and Chen will play fifth-seeded Christopher Ma and Malino Oda in a quarterfinal tonight at 6.
No. 3 Hong Tae Kim and Wei-Yu Su advanced by default when Ben Salomon and Willem Schutte withdrew from the tournament after Schutte's wife gave birth to a son yesterday. Kim and Su play Jay Grollman and Erik Sandblom tonight at 6.
Second-seeded Ikaika Jobe and Bradley Lum-Tucker rolled past Mike Burger and Kai Ohuchi 6-1, 6-3 yesterday and will face No. 6 Chanon Alcon and Gregg Takata at 7:15.
The first match of the quarterfinal round was played last night. Fourth-seeded Stefan Pampulov and Jan Axel Tribler earned a spot in the semifinals with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Bob Beckvall and Charles Swift in the feature match of the evening.
Bruggemann and Chen were seeded seventh last year and snuck through the draw before outlasting Sandblom and Ryan Ideta in a thrilling five-set final. The championship meant playing in the spotlight in their return for this year's tournament.
"There's more pressure put on by ourselves and by other people," Chen said. "People expect us to do well now. So we'll try to do our best to uphold our seed."
Bruggemann and Chen, formerly college teammates at Santa Clara, appeared to be on their way to an easy first-round win Tuesday, leading 5-1 in the first set of the best-of-three match when rain halted play.
While the 24-hour delay disrupted the defending champs' rhythm, it gave Baldemor and Laws an opportunity to regroup overnight.
"It was a chance for us to think about the match and change our strategy," Baldemor said. "It worked out well for us, because they were rolling in the first set."
Bruggemann held serve to close out the first set when play resumed yesterday. But Baldemor and Laws broke Chen's serve early in the second set en route to a 3-0 lead. Another break gave them a 4-2 advantage.
Bruggemann and Chen worked their way back into the set with a service break and tied it at 4-4 on Bruggemann's serve.
"Even when we were up, they're such a tough team you expect they're going to fight back, and they did," Baldemor said.
Laws fueled thoughts of a possible upset by firing an ace to give his team a 6-5 lead. But Baldemor and Laws struggled to keep Bruggemann's serve in play in the following game as the top seeds forced a tiebreaker.
Bruggemann and Chen then breezed to a 6-0 lead in the tiebreaker and ended it with Bruggemann's blistering cross-court shot.
"When there's a sense of urgency I think everyone plays a little better," Chen said.
"Once you start losing, it helps kick-start you and you start playing better. It seems to be a common trend in our matches."
