The wins just keep on coming for Alex Clayton. The standout freshman on the Stanford men’s tennis team made it to the semifinals of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) National Indoor Championships last weekend before losing to the top-ranked player in the country, Virginia’s Somdev Devvarman.

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Eddie Martinez

Freshman Alex Clayton was the Cardinal’s top performer at this weekend’s National Indoor Championships, losing to the top seed in the semifinals. In his first season, he has amassed a 9-2 record against some top competitors.

Clayton opened the tournament with three straight wins to reach the semis. He knocked off Dominic Inglot of Virginia, Bassam Beidas of Pepperdine and fourth-seeded Greg Ouellette from the University of Florida. All the victories were in straight sets.

On Saturday morning, Clayton faced Somdev Devvarman, tabbed No. 1 according to the ITA rankings. It was a hard-fought match, but Clayton ultimately fell short and lost 6-4, 6-4. It was only the second loss of the year for the freshman, making his season record 9-2 — and eight of those wins have come against nationally ranked opponents.

“This was the first tournament I have played indoors, and I thought I did well,” Clayton said. “I was able to serve extremely well this week, and I liked playing indoors a lot.

“My match against Somdev was very close. We both played well, and it came down to a few points. He’s a very good player.”

Devvarman went on to win the singles tournament, as well as the doubles bracket in which he was the top seed with teammate Treat Huey, so there is little shame in losing such a tough match.

Head coach John Whitlinger mentioned before the weekend that this tournament was about improvement, among other things. Clayton agrees and feels that he has improved since his last competition.

“I was playing great tennis [this weekend],” Clayton said. “I got a lot of confidence from this event and will take that into the season. I am pleased because I have improved since the All-Americans [a month ago].”

Sophomore Richard Wire won his first round match Thursday to reach the second round but lost to Adam Holmstrom of Denver, 6-1, 7-6 (7-1). Holmstrom played well the whole weekend and reached the semifinals after knocking off the tournament’s second seed, Travis Helgeson from Georgia.

“[Adam] played really great,” Wire said. “He was lights-out.”

The tournament was a good challenge for the players — playing against the nation’s best competition should pay dividends when the season begins.

Next up for the team will be the first dual match of the season. Stanford will take on the University of Hawaii in Maui on Nov. 20.