Despite play being moved indoors and outdoors due to weather, seeded players continued to fall in the singles and doubles draws of the Men’s ITA Midwest Regional Tournament held at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minn. Saturday. Only two of the top ten seeds advanced to the semifinal round of singles play, while a Gustavus doubles team is guaranteed to win the doubles draw.
Mike Burdakin of Gustavus, the 15th-seeded singles player, knocked off two top ten seeded players. He defeated #3-seed Max Busch of Luther 6-0, 6-4 in the fourth round, and followed that by beating #6-seed Colin Russell of Carleton 6-4, 6-2 in the quarterfinals. Ninth-seeded Juan Carlos Perez had the largest upset of the day defeating #2-seed Miguel Yunes of Carthage in a close match 6-4, 7-6(3). The semifinals are set for Sunday morning at 9:00 am as #1-seed Andy Bryan of Gustavus will take on #5-seed Arya Vayghan of St. Thomas and #15-seed Mike Burdakin of Gustavus will face #11-seed John Kauss of Gustavus.
Upsets carried over into the doubles draw later in the afternoon as the #8-seeded team of Nick Hansen and Ben Tomasek of Gustavus defeated the #3-seeded team of Max Busch and Jono Martin of Luther 8-5 in the quarterfinals. The #7-seeded team of Mike Burdakin and John Kauss of Gustavus defeated the #4-seeded team of Robin Borg and Alex Lowe of UW-Whitewater 8-6 during the quarterfinals as well. It will be all-Gustavus semifinals tomorrow as #1-seed Andy Bryan and Charlie Paukert of Gustavus will take on #8-seed Nick Hansen and Ben Tomasek of Gustavus and #7-seed Mike Burdakin and John Kauss of Gustavus will face unseeded Dave Koppel and Aaron Zenner of Gustavus. The doubles draw will finish after the conclusion of the singles final.