The Stanford men’s tennis team completed a very successful preseason tournament this past weekend at the ITA Regional Championships in Seattle, Wash. Two doubles teams and the individual play of sophomore Richard Wire represented the Cardinal well; several members of the team also went deep into both brackets of the tournament.

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Sophomore Richard Wire will represent Stanford today in the singles finals of the ITA Regional Championships. Two Cardinal teams have also advanced to the doubles semifinals. #gallery http://daily.stanford.org/image/full/8003
Alvin Chow / Stanford Daily File Photo

Sophomore Richard Wire will represent Stanford today in the singles finals of the ITA Regional Championships. Two Cardinal teams have also advanced to the doubles semifinals.

Wire has won five straight matches and is set to play in the finals of the singles bracket today against Andy Kuharszky of Washington. Wire is the No. 2 seed, and Kuharszky is No. 4.

At one point in the tournament, Wire had won 23 straight games. Head coach John Whitlinger had nothing but praise for the sophomore.

“Richard has played as well as I have ever seen him play,” Whitlinger said. “He’s moving well, playing with confidence and serving well. He will have quite a challenge tomorrow against [Kuharszky], who is a different style of player than [Wire] has seen in the past few days.”

Wire also teamed with freshman Greg Hirshman in doubles, and the duo is still standing. They will play a semifinal match tomorrow against Geoff Chivezer and Pedro Zerbini, the No. 2 seeded team from Cal.

“[Hirshman] and I have played well,” Wire said about his younger partner. “He is a more intense player, and I am more relaxed, so the combination has been good.

“He is eager to learn and he is improving fast — hopefully he can rely on me as the more experienced player.”

Another freshman, Ted Kelly, did exceptionally well in his first collegiate tournament. Kelly, who had only played one collegiate match before this weekend, won his two opening matches in the singles bracket, including an upset victory over the No. 1 seeded player in the tournament, Cal’s Pierre Mouillon. Kelly recorded a three-set victory, 6-7, 6-3, 6-3, but came up short of the quarterfinals when he fell to Tobias Obenaus of Washington, 6-1, 3-6, 6-1, in the next round.

“Ted played a great match,” said coach Whitlinger. “[Mouillon] is a very solid player. He played well in the first set, but Ted turned it right around and played a solid last two sets. It was a great effort by him.”

But Kelly is not done, as he and junior Blake Muller are still alive in the doubles bracket, as well. Kelly and Muller have played solidly throughout the weekend and have a semifinal match tomorrow against Mouillon and Jonathan Dahan from Cal. They are the No. 1 seeded team, while the duo from Cal is the third seed.

The Stanford doubles duo of junior Jeff Zeller and sophomore Kevin Kaiser held a 6-4 lead in its quarterfinal match but could not sustain it, and lost 8-6 to Chivezer and Zerbini.

“We’ve got guys who can really play some doubles,” said Whitlinger. The fact that all three Stanford teams made the quarterfinals is evidence of just that.

“It shows me there are a lot of options this year,” Whitlinger continued. “I’m proud of all the guys; they have all played well, so I hope we can qualify a team for National Indoors.”

Kelly/Muller and Hirshman/Wire are on opposite sides of the bracket, so an all-Stanford final is quite possible. Today’s action starts at 9:30 a.m. with the doubles semifinals, followed by Wire’s match in the finals at 11:30 a.m.