After an early loss in the opening round of the ECAC Championships, Harvard men’s tennis team responded with two consecutive victories over Dartmouth and Yale during the weekend. The matches took place in Princeton, New Jersey.
On Saturday, Harvard defeated Dartmouth 4-0. In doubles play, Kolos Kincses and Rohan Murali secured a win against Malhar Patel and Calvin Wang at the No. 2 spot without conceding a game. James MacDonald and Masato Perera clinched the doubles point for Harvard with a 6-3 victory on court three.
Harvard maintained its momentum in singles matches, winning every first set across all courts. Rohan Murali was first to finish, beating Kornel Halmos from Dartmouth in straight sets, both 6-1. Nathan Blokhin followed with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Adrian Tracey on court three. Mitchell Lee completed the sweep by defeating Yujiro Onuma 7-5, 6-2 on court five.
The results against Dartmouth were as follows: Benjamin Privara/Nathan Blokhin vs. Miles Groom/Henry Ren did not finish; Kolos Kincses/Rohan Murali won their match; James MacDonald/Masato Perera also secured a win in doubles. In singles play, besides Murali and Blokhin’s wins, Marc Ktiri led his match before it was halted.
Against Yale on Sunday, Harvard lost the doubles point for the first time in eight matches but quickly recovered during singles competition. Nathan Blokhin earned another straight-set victory over Jason Shuler (6-3, 6-1). Masato Perera and Marc Ktiri added straight-set wins on courts four and six to give Harvard a lead.
Yale narrowed the gap with a win on court one; however, Rohan Murali secured the overall victory for Harvard after dropping his first set to Edward Liao but coming back to take the next two sets (2-6, 7-5, 6-1).
In doubles against Yale: Vignesh Gogineni/Edward Liao beat Benjamin Privara/Nathan Blokhin; Kolos Kincses/Rohan Murali won their match; Eric Li/Ethan Chung defeated Masato Perera/James MacDonald. Singles results included wins by Rohan Murali (over Edward Liao), Nathan Blokhin (over Jason Shuler), Masato Perera (over Jim Ji), and Marc Ktiri (over Varun Verma).
Following these matches, Harvard will have a two-week break before returning home to host Pepperdine and Bryant in a doubleheader scheduled for March 1.
