STANFORD, Calif. – Stanford men's tennis hosted its first event of the fall season and sophomore Samir Banerjee punched his ticket to the ITA Fall National Championships with a runner-up finish in singles.
Banerjee went 4-1 on the weekend in singles, defeating opponents from Gonzaga, Pacific, Santa Clara and Sacramento State to reach the championship match against Oregon's Quinn Vandecasteele, but fell in the title match 6-3, 6-4. Banerjee leads the Cardinal this fall with five singles victories.
Banerjee also reached the semifinals in doubles alongside Aryan Chaudhary, with the duo defeating pairs from Portland and Sacramento State before dropping a marathon tiebreaker in the semifinals to Pacific's pair of Peter Alam and Justas Trainauskas.
Hunter Rivera had a strong debut for Stanford, reaching the semifinals after wins over foes from Portland, Washington and Gonzaga, including two ranked victories. He fell in the semifinals in three sets to Oregon's Vandecasteele.
Neel Rajesh reached the round of 16 in singles with a win, going 1-1 overall, while Kyle Kang rebounded from a first-round defeat to go 2-1 in his first collegiate action. Rajesh and Anders Matta picked up a doubles win over a pair from California to wrap up the event's action.
Banerjee will represent the Cardinal at the ITA Fall National Championship from Nov. 1-5 in San Diego.
RESULTS
Singles
(2) No. 29 Samir Banerjee
R32 – vs. Matthew Hollingworth (Gonzaga) – W, 6-3, 6-2
R16 – vs. Tiago Silva (Pacific) – W, 6-2, 6-1
QF – vs. (5) No. 84 Christian Lerby (Santa Clara) – W, 7-6 (2), 6-1
SF – vs. Jan Silva (Sacramento State) – W, 7-6 (3), 6-0
F - vs. (1) No. 104 Quinn Vandecasteele (Oregon) – L, 6-3, 6-4
Aryan Chaudhary
R32 – vs. (1) No. 104 Quinn Vandecasteele (Oregon) – L, 6-1, 6-4
(4) Kyle Kang
R32 – vs. No. 105 Sasha Trkulja (Gonzaga) – L, 7-6 (6), 6-3
CON – vs. Ryan Torres (UC Davis) – W, 6-1, 6-1
EX – vs. Terrence Das (Pacific) – W, 6-1, 6-3
Neel Rajesh
R32 – vs. Nicolas Ocana (Portland) – W, 6-4, 6-1
R16 – vs. (5) No. 84 Christian Lerby (Santa Clara) – L, 5-7, 6-3, 6-3
Hudson Rivera
R32 – vs. Maxim Groysman (Portland) – W, 6-3, 6-2
R16 – vs. (5) No. 91 Dzianis Zharyn (Washington) – W, 4-6, 7-5, 7-6 (4)
QF – vs. No. 105 Sasha Trkulja (Gonzaga) – W, 7-6 (2), 6-4
SF – vs. (1) No. 104 Quinn Vandecasteele (Oregon) – L, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3
Anders Matta
EX – vs. Sam De Vries (UC Davis) – L, 6-2, 6-0
Doubles
(4) Samir Banerjee/Aryan Chaudhary
R16 – vs. Oscar Brown/Nicolas Ocana (Portland) – W, 8-5
QF – vs. Mark Keki/Mate Voros (Sacramento State) – W, 8-6
SF – vs. Peter Alam/Justas Trainauskas (Pacific) – L, 6-2, 5-7, 1-0 (10)
Kyle Kang/Hudson Rivera
R16 – vs. (2) No. 34 Matthew Hollingworth/Sasha Trkulja (Gonzaga) – L, 8-5
CON – vs. Alex Chang/Carl Emil Overbeck (California) – L, 8-5
Anders Matta/Neel Rajesh
R16 – vs. Terrence Das/Tiago Silva (Pacific) – L, 8-7 (3)
CON – vs. Derrick Chen/Lucas Magnaudet (California) – W, 8-5
CON – Consolation
EX – Extra Match