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SAINT PETER, Minn. – The ITA Midwest Regional Championship completed all but the singles final on Sunday, with an all Gustavus doubles final highlighting the day. Chase Johnson and Patrick Whaling came out on top in the championship doubles match over fellow teammates Yassine Derbani and Nick Aney by a score of 7-6, 6-2. With the victory, Johnson and Whaling solidified themselves as All-Americans.
On the doubles bracket, coach Tommy Valentini said, “Yassine and Nick were tremendous as a first time pairing – and they played an outstanding match to take out the top seed in the semis. Patrick and Chase were fantastic in bouncing back from tough singles losses. They chose to be positive and played some excellent doubles. It’s a huge honor for Patrick to become a three-time doubles All-American, and Chase is extremely deserving to join the Gustie All-Americans. They played an extremely high-level final against Yassnie and Nick.”
Johnson and Whaling got to the championship in very clean fashion with some stellar play. In their first match, they defeated Zach Wood and Robert Rider of UW-Whitewater by a score of 8-3. In the round of 16 they played Zach Lane and Ishaan Tibrewal of Grinell and came out victorious 8-4. They beat Sahil Chhugani and William Walsh of Carleton 8-1 in the round of eight before defeating Xander Zuczek and Aaron Goodman of Carleton 8-2 to advance to the finals.
Johnson and Whaling will next compete the ITA Oracle Cup, which will be held Oct. 11-14 at the Rome Tennis Center at Berry College in Rome, Ga. The ITA Cup features eight regional champions competing for the national title.