NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- The doubles team of Felipe Pinzon and Petar Teodorovic won the ITA New England Regionals doubles crown and punched their ticket to the NCAA Tournament on Monday afternoon at Yale's Cullman-Heyman Tennis Center on Monday. The tandem will compete at nationals on November 18-23 at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Fla.
Pinzon and Teodorovic picked up a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Yale's Eric Li and Ethan Chung in the finals, becoming the second straight Big Red team to earn New England's NCAA tournament bid in doubles. Rushil Knosla and Eric Verdes took care of business in 2024 en route to their first-ever appearance at nationals. Only the region's champion qualified for NCAAs.
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NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- The Cornell men's tennis team continued its strong showing at the ITA New England Regional Championships, advancing multiple players deep into both singles and doubles draws through the tournament's third and fourth days at Yale's Cullman-Heyman Tennis Center.
In singles play, sophomore Rodrigo Fernandes also impressed, cruising past Buffalo's Onder Balci 6-3, 6-0 and advancing to the quarterfinals after topping teammate Aman Sharma (4-1, default). Fernandes then continued his run with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Harvard's Nathan Blokhin to reach the semifinals. He will face Harvard's Benjamin Privara with a spot at the NCAA championships, and the ITA Regionals finals, on the line.
Junior Felipe Pinzon joined Fernandes in the late rounds after a 6-4, 6-4 win over Dartmouth's Miles Groom and a pair of all-Cornell battles. He edged teammate Petar Teodorovic 7-6, 7-6 in the round of 16 before narrowly falling to Harvard's Benjamin Privara in the quarterfinals, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.
Five Big Red players reached the round of 32, highlighted by a dominant stretch from freshman Rethin Pranav Senthil Kumar, who defeated Dartmouth's Henry Ren 6-2, 6-3 before falling in a tight three-setter to Harvard's Melchior Delloye in the round of 16, 4-6, 7-6, 6-3.
Freshman Nathan Gold added a consolation victory, rallying to defeat Binghamton's Ronin Lotlikar 1-6, 6-3, 10-8.
Cornell's doubles tandems continued to deliver as well. The pair of Pinzon and Teodorovic advanced to the semifinals after a string of wins, including a 9-8 thriller over Marist's Abella Fernandez and Gregor Heinemann, an 8-6 victory over Buffalo's Emiliano Jorquera and Faiz Nasyam, and an 8-2 triumph against Boston College's Liam O'Leary and Matvey Greschner. The Big Red tandem will need to win both the semis and the finals to reach the NCAA championships.
The duo of Fernandes and Kumar added an 8-2 win over Merrimack's Ludolph Wiggett and Kabir Chhabria before bowing out in the round of 16.
NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- The Cornell men's tennis team opened play at the ITA New England Regional Championships with several strong performances through the opening two days at Yale's Cullman-Heyman Tennis Center. The Big Red advanced five into the round of 32 in open singles, with a pair of doubles teams also picking up their first win in the brackets.
Freshman Rethin Pranav Senthil Kumar led the Big Red charge, rolling to two straight-set victories to reach the main draw before claiming a first round victory. Kumar posted a 6-3, 6-1 win over Boston College's Lukas Rais in the qualifying round of 64, then dispatched Fairfield's Luca Benaubbouche 6-1, 6-2 to advance. In his first main draw match, he continued his form with a 6-1, 6-4 win against Fairfield's Diego Alcala.
Classmate Nathan Gold also opened strong, defeating Matvey Greschner of Boston College 7-5, 6-2 in his first collegiate postseason event before falling to Harvard's Kolos Kincses 6-3, 6-2 in the next round.
In main draw singles, Rodrigo Fernandes, Felipe Pinzon, Aman Sharma and Petar Teodorovic each earned first-round victories to reach the round of 32. Fernandes topped Brown's Elliot Wasserman 6-3, 6-3, while Sharma battled through a pair of tiebreaks to edge Dartmouth's Denny Bao 7-6, 7-6. Teodorovic added a 6-2, 7-5 win over Buffalo's Emiliano Jorquera. Pinzon capped a strong first full day for the Big Red with a three-set triumph, outlasting Buffalo's Michael Malkin 6-1, 5-7, 6-1 in the round of 64.
Cornell also found early success in doubles play. Pinzon and Teodorovic cruised to an 8-0 shutout over Holy Cross' Aayush Jhaveri and Teddy Callery, while Fernandes and Kumar paired for an 8-2 win against Niagara's Logan Wong and Jose Garcia Uribe to advance to the round of 32.
The Big Red continues competition at the NCAA qualifier on Saturday morning.
