STANFORD, Calif. – Opening the ITA Kickoff in victorious fashion, No. 11 Stanford men's tennis battled to a 4-1 triumph over Tulane on Saturday afternoon at the Taube Family Tennis Center. The Cardinal improves to 2-0 this spring with the result.
Freshman Neel Rajesh provided the clinching point, winning the final two games of the second set to walk off with a 6-4, 6-4 victory. The win is the first in dual play in his career, and pushes him into double digits for his first-year campaign.
Junior Axel Geller and sophomore Sangeet Sridhar earned positive results at No. 1 and No. 3 singles, posting straight-set results. Sridhar was the first in the clubhouse at 6-1, 6-1, while Geller finished close behind with scores of 6-0, 6-4.
Stanford picked up the doubles point for the second-straight match, with wins on courts one and three. Geller and Rajesh cruised to a 6-1 results, while sophomores Tomas Kopczynski and Alexandre Rotsaert followed with a 6-2 decision.
Stanford will meet rival No. 13 California in the ITA Kickoff final on Sunday, Jan. 26 at 2 p.m.
No. 11 Stanford 4, Tulane 1
DOUBLES
1) Axel Geller/Neel Rajesh (STAN) d. Ewan Moore/Dane Esses (TUL), 6-1
2) Timothy Sah/Sangeet Sridhar (STAN) vs. Hamish Stewart/Akos Kotorman (TUL), 4-4 (uf)
3) Tomas Kopczynski/Alexandre Rotsaert (STAN) d. Luis Erlenbusch/Tim Ruetzel (TUL), 6-2
Order of Finish: 1, 3
SINGLES
1) Axel Geller (STAN) d. No. 32 Ewan Moore (TUL), 6-0, 6-4
2) No. 90 Hamish Stewart (TUL) d. No. 18 Alexandre Rotsaert (STAN), 2-6, 2-6
3) No. 54 Sangeet Sridhar (STAN) d. No. 47 Dane Esses (TUL), 6-1, 6-1
4) Timothy Sah (STAN) vs. Luis Erlenbusch (TUL), 6-4, 5-5 (uf)
5) Neel Rajesh (STAN) vs. Tim Ruetzel (TUL), 6-4, 6-4
6) Filip Kolasinski (STAN) vs. Akos Kotorman (TUL), 6-3, 3-5 (uf)
Order of Finish: 3, 2, 1, 5
No. 13 California 4, Miami 0
DOUBLES
1) No. 9 Franco Aubone/Benjamin Hannestad (MIA) d. Yuta Kikuchi/Jack Molloy (CAL), 6-3
2) Can Kaya/Paul Barretto (CAL) d. Dane Dunlap/Bojan Janulovski (MIA), 6-4
3) Bjorn Hoffman/Kent Hunter (CAL) vs. Francisco Bastias/Adria Soriano Barrera (MIA), 7-6 (4)
Order of Finish: 1, 2, 3
SINGLES
1) No. 34 Yuta Kikuchi (CAL) d. No. 63 Adria Soriano Barrera (MIA), 3-6, 6-4, 6-4
2) No. 49 Jack Molloy (CAL) d. Dane Dunlap (MIA), 6-4, 6-2
3) Kent Hunter (CAL) vs. Benjamin Hannestad (MIA), uf
4) Paul Barretto (CAL) vs. Francisco Bastias (MIA), 6-0, 6-4
5) Ben Draper (CAL) vs. Bojan Janulovski (MIA), 6-7, 6-4, 2-1, uf
6) No. 81 Bjorn Hoffmann (CAL) vs. Franco Aubone (MIA), uf
Order of Finish: 4, 2, 1