CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — The Cornell men's tennis team wrapped up Harvard's Chowderfest on Sunday with a bounce-back day three, finishing the three-day event with several standout individual performances despite a rough middle day against the host Crimson.
Sophomore Rethin Pranav Senthil Kumar and senior Rushil Khosla set the tone on day one, each picking up singles wins — Senthil Kumar over Brown's Robert Yang (6-2, 6-4) and Khosla in a three-set battle with Illinois' David Bakonyi (6-2, 6-7, 7-5) — and teaming up to win a first-round doubles tiebreaker over Illinois' Jon Gamble and Nicholas Mekhael, 7-6. Cornell dropped its other four singles matches and two more doubles matches that day against Illinois and Brown.
Day two proved difficult for the Big Red, as host Harvard swept all five singles matches against Cornell and won two of three doubles matches. Cornell's only doubles win on day two came from Felipe Pinzon and Greg Bernadsky, who defeated Harvard's Bill Chan and James MacDonald, 6-3.
Cornell responded on day three with its best day of singles play at the tournament, going 3-3. Senthil Kumar capped a strong weekend by avenging Illinois' Jon Gamble in a marathon third-set tiebreaker, 6-4, 3-6, 11-9. Pinzon bounced back from his day one loss with a 6-1, 6-4 win over SMU's Sasa Markovic, and Bernadsky also rebounded, edging Illinois' Colson Wells 6-4, 3-6, 10-7 in a tight third-set breaker. Cornell's day three losses came as SMU's Luis Flores defeated Khosla 7-6, 6-2, Illinois' David Bakonyi topped Nathan Gold 6-1, 4-6, 10-2, and Virginia Tech's Nicolas Iantosca beat Jack Casciato 6-2, 6-2.
In day three doubles, Senthil Kumar and Khosla closed out the tournament with a 6-4 win over SMU's Flores and Markovic. Cornell dropped its other two doubles matches, as Illinois' Gamble and Mekhael defeated Pinzon and Bernadsky 6-3, and Illinois' Bakonyi and Wells beat Gold and Casciato 6-0.
Junior Rodrigo Fernandes and freshman Cezar Papoe will compete at the ITA All-American Championships beginning on Wednesday, Sept. 23 in Tulsa, Okla.
