COLLEGE TENNIS : MacPhie Handles Ekerot to Go on to Bigger Things

The wild-card berth that went to the winner of the Adidas Invitational Tennis Championship shuffled the deck in Sunday’s final at Hyatt Grand Champions Resort.

“I thought both of us were a little tentative at the beginning,” USC sophomore Brian MacPhie said after he gained a berth into the $1.1-million Newsweek Champions Cup by virtue of his 6-3, 7-6 (7-5) victory over teammate David Ekerot. “I think the wild card was at the back of our minds. Even though I was trying to block that out, it’s tough when you’re playing to get into a million-dollar tournament.”

MacPhie said he never got the wild-card berth out of his mind during the match, diminishing his level of play.

“We both played some really good tennis, but it really wasn’t consistent,” said MacPhie, who was seeded fourth and is 11th on the Volvo Tennis/Collegiate Rankings.

A second factor making things difficult for both players was their friendship with each other. This was the first time MacPhie and Ekerot played a match against each other, but they often practice together.

“It’s hard to be competitive against a guy who’s a ‘bud’ of yours,” said Ekerot, a junior from Sweden.

Ekerot, who was unseeded but had upset top-seeded Mark Knowles of UCLA in Thursday’s third round, began the match by breaking MacPhie’s serve, but lost the next four games. Both players then held serve for the remainder of the set.

In the second set, MacPhie broke Ekerot’s serve in the third game, and Ekerot did the same to MacPhie in the sixth. MacPhie held four break points over Ekerot in the ninth game, but Ekerot managed to hold serve.

The tiebreaker was tied, 5-5, until MacPhie hit an overhead winner and closed out the match on a backhand service return winner.

In the all-USC doubles final, MacPhie and Jon Leach earned entry into the doubles portion of the March 2-8 Newsweek Champions Cup with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 victory over Ekerot and Andras Lanyi.