After three days of competition at Taube Family Tennis Stadium, one player remains for the Cardinal as the semifinal round of the 2019 ITA Men’s Northwest Regional Championships kicks off Monday morning. Sophomore Sangeet Sridhar defeated Gonzaga senior and 2019 First-Team Singles All-West honoree Samuel Feit (7-6(5), 6-3) on Saturday to reach the semis; he will face Cal sophomore Yuta Kikuchi on Monday morning at 10 a.m. Kikuchi is the tournament’s No. 1 seed and was named Pac-12 Newcomer of the Year at the end of last season.

Stanford got off to a rough start in the Main Draw Singles First Round on Friday. Freshman Dean Stratakos, sophomore Tomas Kopczynski and juniors Christian Kontaxis, Kento Perera and Sam Turchetta all fell in their matches of the weekend. Junior Timothy Sah and freshmen Neel Rajesh and Filip Kolasinski all made it through; Sridhar and senior William Genesen had byes to the second round.

Genesen would ultimately fall there, though, while Sridhar, Sah, Rajesh and Kolasinski all moved on to the third round, where they all swiftly swept through to easy wins to reach the Round of 16. There, Cal’s Kent Hunter defeated Sah (6-3, 6-3) and Rajesh fell to Oregon junior Emmanuel Coste (6-3, 7-6(5)). Coste took the singles title at the tournament last year. 

Kolasinski fell to Saint Mary’s senior Damon Kesaris (6-3, 6-3), leaving Sridhar as the last man standing in the singles draw; the semifinal round will be held Monday.

Stanford’s doubles run ended Sunday morning in the quarterfinals. After a nail-biting 8-7(1) win in the first round, the duo of Rajesh and Sah cruised through the Round of 32 and Round of 16 with wins over Santa Clara’s Hinojosa and Tapiador-Barajas, and UC Davis’ Goulak and Thamma, respectively. 

Stanford hasn’t had an ITA Northwest Regionals singles champion since David Wilczynski in 2015. Kikuchi will certainly be a challenge on Monday morning for Sridhar, the last Cardinal player in the race for the singles title.

Contact Shan Reddy at rsreddy ‘at’ stanford.edu.