Fox Valley players have mixed results

Day One at the IHSA state tennis finals was met with mixed results for Fox Valley area players.

Two-time state qualifiers Selwyn Hansana-Eddie Senesombath of Larkin were eliminated in two matches, as were Scott Subak-Andy DeBoer of Crystal Lake South.

Elgin Academy's Nicholas Garcia-Christian Lynn won two matches in their first state appearance.

David Kaufman of Elgin Academy, and Fox Valley Conference champion junior Chris Federighi (25-2) of Cary-Grove each played inspired tennis to earn 2 victories each before dropping into the back draw by higher-seeded opponents.

The three-time qualifier Federighi, who entered the tournament as a 17-32 seed, was an easy straight-sets victor in his first two matches at Rolling Meadows before running into 9-16 Rafe Mosetick (29-6) of Hinsdale Central.

Federighi put together a strong effort in the first set only to lose 6-4, before some fine play from the Central sophomore and a bad blister on his right hand did in Federighi for good.

"It's obvious the schedule that Rafe plays at Hinsdale is a big advantage coming into the tournament, but I still felt confident in that second set of coming back, up until I felt blisters after a kick serve," Federighi said.

Kaufman, who was a state qualifier as a sophomore before taking a year off from the prep scene to work on his game and improve his club standing, fell victim to 17-32 Joey Leto of Downers Grove South - who later lost to 9-16 Gordon Zhang of Naperville North.

"Winning the singles title at the Elgin sectional last weekend against two very good players from Barrington (George Coll and Varun Parekh), my goal coming into this weekend is to get a couple of wins in the main draw and maybe 3-4 (overall) before it's over," Kaufman said.