Stanford men’s tennis enjoyed a successful weekend at the ITA Fall National Championships down in San Diego. Sophomore Arthur Fery, senior Alexandre Rotsaert, freshman Max Basing and fifth year Timothy Sah represented the Cardinal at the competition.

Fery, a London native and the lone Stanford entry in the singles bracket, won four matches before losing in the final 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 to No. 3 ranked August Holmgren of the University of San Diego. Fery came into the event ranked the No. 48 player in the country, but will surely see a big rise soon after dispatching two players in the top 10 — No. 7 Andre Ilagan (a 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 quarterfinal win for Fery) and No. 5 Matej Vocel (7-5, 4-6, 7-5 in the semifinals). 

On the doubles side of the action, Fery and Rotsaert entered the competition with ample momentum after a victorious trip to Seattle last month; the pair won the ITA Northwest Super Regional Championships two weekends ago. The No. 59-ranked doubles duo won their first four matches in straight sets, highlighted by a 6-3, 6-3 victory over the No. 3 doubles team in the country. However, the Stanford pair could not clear the final hurdle, falling 2-6, 6-4, 1-0 (7) to the No. 40 pairing of Robert Cash and Vocel from Ohio State. 

The last time a school had finalists in both the singles and doubles competitions was in 2007. Fery was the first Cardinal player to reach the singles final since 2001, and he and Rotsaert were the first Stanford doubles pairing since 2009 to be among the last two duos standing.

In addition to those two, Basing and Sah competed in the doubles event. They won their opening match 6-2, 6-2 against a Middle Tennessee State duo ranked No. 21 in the nation. They then lost 6-4, 7-6 (4) in the Round of 16 to the No. 8-ranked pair out of Georgia Tech. 

All in all, the weekend was a promising sign for Stanford men’s tennis and for what is to come in the spring season. The competition was the last fall event for the Cardinal.