ORLANDO, FL (May 19, 2023) -- Tufts University senior standout
Rishabh Sharda picked up his third victory of the 2023 NCAA Singles Championships on Friday in the quarterfinals, defeating Phuc Huynh of Washington University of St. Louis in straight sets in action from the United States Tennis Association (USTA) National Campus.
Playing on the stadium court, Sharda played up to the moment as the senior star for the Jumbos came out of the gate strong with a break of serve to make it 1-0 in the first stanza. Huynh battled back with straight wins to get back on serve, followed by a pair of respective breaks by each player to make the score 3-3. Both players held serve and then Sharda captured the final three games including holding serve at 5-4 to earn the opening set.
The second stanza would be all Sharda, as he won 63 percent of the points in the set while winning 57 percent of his second serves. Sharda also was a perfect 10-0 on points that went to a second serve while he was receiving in the second stanza, and he turned five break point opportunities into four breaks in the second set to cruise into the NCAA Singles semifinals on Saturday.
Sharda will take on Thomas Yu of Johns Hopkins University after the Blue Jay No. 1 player upset top-seed James Hopper of Case Western Reserve University 7-5, 6-4. On the other side, Matthew Kandel of Williams College and Vishwa Aduru of CWRU will battle in the other semifinal.
Saturday's semifinals will be played at 9 a.m., while the NCAA title match will be at 10 a.m. Sunday morning.
--JUMBOS--
