CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Junior Rushil Khosla and sophomore Rethin Pranav Senthil Kumar won the doubles title, and junior Rodrigo Fernandes clinched one of the two singles automatic bids with a semifinal win Monday as the 2026 ITA Division I Men's New England Regional Championship concluded at Harvard.

The three earned automatic bids to the NCAA Division I Men's Tennis Singles and Doubles Championships, hosted by the University of Georgia Nov. 17-22 in Athens, Ga.

"Having three players qualify for the NCAA Championships is a tremendous accomplishment for our program," said Silviu Tanasoiu, the Director of Intercollegiate Tennis and Savitt-Weiss Head Coach of Cornell Men's Tennis. "Winning the regional doubles title for the third consecutive year is something we're particularly proud of. I think it speaks volumes about the consistency of our program and the work our guys put in year after year."

Khosla and Senthil Kumar, the second seed and 67th-ranked pair in the preseason ITA rankings, won all six of their doubles matches. They beat Brown's 15th-seeded Ivan Sodan and Robert Yang, 6-4, 7-6 (2), in the semifinals and Harvard's third-seeded and 74th-ranked Rohan Murali and Kolos Kincses, 6-3, 6-3, in the final. It is the Big Red's third straight doubles title at the regional and Khosla's second, after he won in 2024 with senior Eric Verdes. Senior Felipe Pinzon and Petar Teodorovic '26 won last year's title. Khosla will make his second NCAA doubles appearance after he and Verdes fell in the first round in 2024.

"Rushil and Rethin complement each other extremely well," Tanasoiu said. "They have a great understanding of each other's games, they trust one another, and most importantly, they compete incredibly well together. What impressed me most was their ability to stay composed and execute when it mattered most."

In singles, top-seeded and 16th-ranked Fernandes, who dropped just 19 games in his first four matches, outlasted Verdes, 6-2, 6-7 (2), 7-5, in an all-Cornell semifinal that lasted more than three hours. Fernandes is the first Cornell player to qualify for the NCAA singles championship since Radu Papoe '25 in fall 2024. Murali, the second seed and 25th-ranked player, beat freshman Cezar Papoe, Radu's younger brother, 6-1, 6-2, in the other semifinal. The singles final was not played since both players had already clinched automatic bids.

"You want both guys to succeed and unfortunately only one can advance," Tanasoiu said of the Fernandes-Verdes semifinal. "I was incredibly proud of the way they competed and represented our program. Matches like these say a lot about the competitive environment we're trying to create here."

Verdes, the ninth seed, finished with four singles wins, including Saturday's upset of Harvard's third-seeded and 44th-ranked Nathan Blokhin. Papoe, the fourth seed, reached the semifinals in his first regional. Cornell went 11-4 in doubles across the five days.

"He's an incredibly talented young man with a tremendous amount of potential," Tanasoiu said of Papoe. "What excites me most is that he still has so much room to grow, both as a player and as a competitor."

"We have a very ambitious group and our expectations are significantly higher than simply having a successful weekend," Tanasoiu said. "We want to continue growing, continue challenging ourselves and become a better team every single week."

Cornell returns to action at the Ivy League Championships, hosted by Princeton Oct. 23-26.

ITA Division I Men's New England Regional Championship

Monday, Oct. 12 – Results
Singles – Semifinals
[1] #16 Rodrigo Fernandes (Cornell) def. [9] Eric Verdes (Cornell), 6-2, 6-7 (2), 7-5
[2] #25 Rohan Murali (Harvard) def. [4] #100 Cezar Papoe (Cornell), 6-1, 6-2

Doubles – Semifinals
[2] #67 Rushil Khosla/Rethin Pranav Senthil Kumar (Cornell) def. [15] Ivan Sodan/Robert Yang (Brown), 6-4, 7-6 (2)
[3] #74 Rohan Murali/Kolos Kincses (Harvard) def. Lucas Kimelman/Tej Bhagra (Brown), 6-2, 6-1

Doubles – Final
[2] #67 Rushil Khosla/Rethin Pranav Senthil Kumar (Cornell) def. [3] #74 Rohan Murali/Kolos Kincses (Harvard), 6-3, 6-3