Naperville North’s Zhang plays it cool

Gordon Zhang of Naperville North thought he should act like he had been there before, because he had.

Zhang worked hard to control his excitement about just being in the state tournament, and he went on and won all three of his matches to make it to Friday’s Round of 16 for the second time in two years.

““I didn’t want to be too excited,” he said. “I didn’t want to be overwhelmed by the fact that it was the state tournament. I have confidence in myself, and I was able to be calm.”

Zhang said that last year he was really thrilled to make it to the Round of 16, but this year is another story.

“Going to the Round of 16 is what I’m expected to do this time,” Zhang said. “I want to go a lot further this year.”

Zhang will face Latin School’s Ben Quazzo, who defeated him in the final round of the consolation bracket last year.

Zhang finished ninth last year, and Quazzo made it into the top six. The Huskies singles player defeated Quazzo when they faced each other two years ago.

If Zhang gets by that first match, there’s a good chance he’ll meet the No. 1 seed, defending state champion Robert Stineman of New Trier, in the quarterfinals.

Thursday’s opening three rounds were something of an adventure for Zhang because he had never played against or even knew of any of his three opponents.

“It was interesting,” Zhang said. “It took a few games to understand their games and develop my strategy. When I executed my game plan, everything worked out. I know if I can play well I can win.”

He was playing strong, consistent tennis all day and lost only six games in all three matches combined.

However, he knows there are still some adjustments he has to make in order to compete against the stronger competition Friday.

“When I was playing against the wind I was landing my shots all too short,” Zhang said. “Quazzo will make me pay for those shots. I was fine playing with the wind, but playing into the wind I have to neutralize the shot better and hit deeper.”

Though he was sore at the end of the day, Zhang is confident that he will be strong after a good night’s rest.

“I use a lot of energy in every match,” he said. “But I’ll be renewed on Friday and do my best to beat him. I have good endurance and I recover well.”

Naperville North assistant coach Zach Horn was impressed with how well Zhang adjusted to both the weather conditions and his opponents’ games.

“He’s a smart player and he always figures it out on his own about what adjustments he has to make,” Horn said. “Tomorrow he should be ready to go. It won’t be easy, but he could win if he plays well.”

Zhang’s Naperville North teammates, the doubles team of Kevin Huang and Steven Nguyen, dropped their second-round match in the championship bracket and then came back to win two matches in the backdraw.

They will continue play in the consolation bracket Friday.

“It was grueling for Kevin and Steven,” said Naperville North coach Heather Henricksen. “They played four matches and they were on the court from noon to almost 8 p.m. But they were inspired by Gordon. They went after it because they wanted to keep playing on Friday.”

Hinsdale Central’s Sam Bloom and Rafe Mosetick were the other DuPage County singles players to advance. Wheaton Academy’s Devin Moore made it to the third round before falling to Oak Park’s Jake Wilson 6-2, 7-6 (9).

In doubles play Naperville Central’s Wesley Lo and Chris Harrison fell in the third round to Oak Park’s Devin Jones and Luke Trinka 6-2, 6-2.

Two Neuqua Valley doubles teams also lost in the third round. Michael Baiocchi and Patrick Carpio lost 6-1, 6-1 to Stevenson’s David Packowitz and Ross Putterman. Tyler Wall and Nick Anderson lost to Oak Park’s Tim McAdam and Eric Bruynseels 6-3, 6-2.