The Stanford’s men’s tennis team went to Seattle this Thursday for the ITA Northwest Regional Championship, held at Washington’s Nordstrom Tennis Center. A total of 121 singles players and 58 doubles teams played in the tournament, including Pac-12 opponents and out-of-conference players from Eastern Washington, Gonzaga, Sacramento State, San Francisco, Seattle University and St. Mary’s.
Junior William Genesen took a tough loss to sophomore Emmanuel Coste from Oregon in the singles finals Monday after two tough, back-to-back three-set wins on Sunday (6-3, 6-1), the second of which was against his doubles teammate, senior team captain Sameer Kumar (6-1, 5-7, 6-2). The finals match was Genesen’s ninth of the tournament and his second loss overall. In doubles, Genesen went 2-1 alongside Kumar, falling in the quarterfinals to Oregon’s Joshua Charlton and Thomas Laurent (8-6).
The Ducks’ Charlton/Laurent went on to take the doubles championship with a three-set victory over Jack Davis and Piers Foley of Washington. Oregon is the first program to sweep the tournament since Cal brought home the singles and doubles crowns back in 2013.
Before his run ended against Genesen in the singles semifinals, Kumar had defeated Portland State’s Otto Holtari (6-4, 6-3) in the Round of 64, Fresno State’s Cem Erturk (6-2, 6-3) in the Round of 32, Portland’s Carlos Donat (6-3, 4-6, 7-5) in a tough Round of 16 battle and Cal’s Jacob Brumm (6-3, 3-6, 6-1) in the quarterfinals.
Sophomore Timothy Sah fell in the quarterfinals to Cal’s Yuta Kikuchi (7-6(5), 7-6(4)) in a nailbiter that went to tiebreak in both sets in the quarterfinals after taking down the University of the Pacific’s Akram El Sallaly (6-2, 7-6(0)) in the Round of 64, Washington’s Ernesto Turegano (6-3, 6-0) in the Round of 32 and Santa Clara’s Arthur Neuhaus (6-3, 6-1) in the Round of 16.
All players who made it to the semifinals in the main singles and doubles draws secured spots in the 2018 Oracle ITA National Fall Championships in Surprise, Arizona. With their strong showing in this past weekend, Kumar and Genesen secured two more spots in the national tournament for the Cardinal.
Contact Shan Reddy at rsreddy ‘at’ stanford.edu