Plutko finishes fourth in WPIAL
Ari Plutko of Upper St. Clair finished fourth in the WPIAL Class AAA boys’ singles tennis tournament.
The junior dropped his consolation match to Zidaan Hassan from Gateway, 6-2, 6-2, while North Allegheny’s Advaita Sircar outlasted Hassan’s teammate, Adam Memije, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3, in the championship match played April 10 at the Glen Creek Tennis Center in South Park.
Plutko lost to Memije, 6-1, 6-3, in the semifinals played April 9 at Bethel Park High School. He reached the final four by winning pro set matches against NA’s Evan Kaufman, 10-7, and Shady Side Academy’s Chase Hartman, 10-2, in the opening rounds of the tournament.
Plutko entered the WPIAL tournament as the Section 4 champion by virtue of his victory, 6-1, 6-1, over Devin Collier from Bethel Park.
Collier, who was the WPIAL runner-up last year, lost to Hassan, 10-2, in the quarterfinals of the WPIAL tournament. The junior had beaten Michael deVyver from Seneca Valley, 10-1, in the opening round of action while Hassan blanked Peters Township’s Avi Sharma, 10-0.
Plutko’s teammate, Ronan Gibbons, won his first match in the WPIAL tournament, 10-5, against Sai Chaudhry from SSA. The senior succumbed to Sirdar, 10-1, in the quarterfinals.
Gibbons was the third-place finisher in Section 4, outlasting Sharma, 7-5, 4-6, 6-3, in the consolation match.
The top two finishers in Class AAA advanced to the PIAA tournament to be held May 26-27 at the Hershey Racket Club.
Section doubles play commences April 16-17 with tournament action at various sites. The top four tandems qualify for the WPIAL Class AAA doubles event scheduled April 23-24 at North Allegheny High School in Wexford.
The WPIAL team competition commences April 7 and culminates in the championship match to be played May 7 at the Janet L. Swanson Tennis Center, located on the Washington and Jefferson College campus.