ITHACA, N.Y. – The men's tennis team advanced to the semifinals of the ECAC Men's Indoor Tennis Championships on Friday after defeating Brown, 4-1, at Reis Tennis Center.
 
The Big Red will go on to face top-seeded Harvard at 6 p.m. Saturday, after the Crimson defeated eighth-seeded Yale in Friday's last quarterfinal. Cornell (5-1), seeded fourth for the tournament and ranked 73rd in the nation by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association, defeated a ranked opponent for the second time this season.
 
The Big Red won both doubles matches that played to completion to lock up the opening point against Brown (3-4), which entered the tournament seeded fifth and ranked 61st. Junior Venkat Iyer and sophomore Alex Sidney improved to 4-0 on the season from the No. 1 doubles spot, defeating Mike Hill and Michael Riechmann, 8-4. The sophomore tandem of Jason Luu and Quoc-Daniel Nguyen also won its match at No. 2, 8-4, to lock up the opening point.
 
Cornell won three of the four singles matches to finish before the match was halted, because the victor had been determined. Iyer topped Reichmann, 6-2, 6-2 at the No. 1 spot, and Fleck dropped just one game in a straight-sets victory over Soufiane Azargui. The match was then locked up when Nguyen won his fifth consecutive match, topping William Spector, 6-3, 6-3 at No. 4.
 
Cornell will play Harvard at 6 p.m. Saturday. The other matches Saturday are scheduled for 8 a.m., 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. Admission to the general public is free.
 
4-CORNELL 4, 5-BROWN 1
Friday; at Reis Tennis Center; Ithaca, N.Y.
Singles
1. Venkat Iyer (C) def. Michael Riechmann, 6-2, 6-2
2. Sam Fleck (C) def. Soufiane Azargui, 6-1, 6-0
3. Alex Sidney (C) vs. Brandon Burke, 7-6, 1-5 (DNF)
4. Quoc-Daniel Nguyen (C) def. William Spector, 6-3, 6-3
5. Sam Fife (B) vs. Jason Luu, 6-3, 5-6 (DNF)
6. Mike Hill (B)  def. Kyle Berman, 7-6(5), 6-3
Doubles
1. Iyer/Sidney (C) def. Hill/Riechmann, 8-4
2. Luu/Nguyen (C) def. Azargui/Burke, 8-4
3. Fife/Spector (B) vs. Berman/Fleck, 6-5 (DNF)