Ledyard’s McCracken wins a pair
No. 1 seed advances to boys’ singles quarters
Top-seeded Nate McCracken of Ledyard cruised to a pair of victories on the opening day of the Eastern Connecticut Conference boys' tennis tournament Wednesday.
The tournament, held at East Lyme and New London, was pushed back a day by rain.
McCracken remained unbeaten with wins over Killingly's Stephen Wetherell and Waterford's Fadi Hage. He will face No. 5 Eric Gu of Waterford in Thursday's quarterfinals at 3 p.m. at East Lyme.
The other quarterfinal matchups include No. 3 William Michelson of Stonington against teammate Sean Bessette, the No. 9 seed, No. 2 Finn Power against No. 10 Zach Skrabacz of New London and No. 8 Brandon Donovan of Stonington against no. 11 James Zhu of Waterford.
Zhu defeated No. 4 Devon Chen of East Lyme, who was forced to retire after splitting the first two sets, while Skrabacz upset No. 7 Jack Woodruff of Ledyard, 6-1, 2-6 (10-2).
In doubles, the eighth-seeded team of Fitch's Andy Trinh-Chris Russo reached the semifinals with a 7-6, 6-4 upset of No. 4 Matt Tiffany-Aidan Stewart of Woodstock Academy, while, No. 6 Guillem Colom-Jonathan Tan of East Lyme advanced to the semifinals with a 6-0, 6-0 win over No. 3 Riley Fitzsimmons-Alex Turner of Bacon Academy. The other two quarterfinals, featuring top-seeded Conard French-Sujesh Kurumbail of East Lyme and No. 2 Chris Charette-Trevor Hutchins of Ledyard, will be played Thursday.
East Lyme will host the singles and doubles finals on Friday at 3 p.m.
Girls
• Top-seeded Gabby Dellacono of Stonington won her second round match 8-0 to remain on track for her third straight ECC tournament champion. The junior will face No. 9 Anna Slopak, a freshman from Norwich Free Acaemy, in Thursday's quarterfinals at 3 p.m.
The other quarterfinal matchups are No. 4 Samantha Cote of Fitch against No. 5 Sophie Wang of Waterford, No. 3 Clara Siegmund of Woodstock against her teammate, No. 6 Mari Ruggeri, and No. 2 Charlotte Johnstone of Stonington against No. 7 Shauna Kim of East Lyme.
The doubles competition has reached the semifinals with No. 1 Margo Goodman-Ainsley Johnstone of Stonington set to face No. 5 Erin Peterec-Neha Ande of East Lyme and No. 2 Phoebe TownsendBrie Fratoni-Jaskiewicz of Stonington against No. 3 Mackenzie Eaton-Codi Staveski of Woodstock.
The singles quarterfinals will start at 3 p.m. Thursday at Stonington with the singles and doubles semis to follow. Both championship matches will be played on Friday at 3 p.m.