MIDDLEBURY, VT (September 16, 2023) -- The Tufts University men's tennis team, coming off its best finish in a season in program history in 2022-23, opened its 2023-24 campaign at the 2023 Middlebury University Invitational in Middlebury, Vermont Saturday.
The Jumbos had strong performances in all flights in both singles and doubles. Starting with singles action in the "A" flight, No. 1 seed
Vuk Vuksanovic won his first match of the day in the opening round 6-3, 7-5 over Jake Cohen of Colby, while
Javier Gonzalez was an opening round winner as well in the "A" flight with a score of 7-5, 6-4.
In the second round, Vuksanoic was forced to retire and Gonzalez was topped in three sets by Julian Wu 6-7(5), 7-6 (4), 10-3. In "B" flight action in singles,
Andrej Djokic was a 6-3, 7-6 (2) winner in Round 1, while
Aarush Ganji bested Alex Park of Bates College 6-1, 6-0. Lachie MacIntosh also bested Thehan Wijemanne of Middlebury 6-3, 6-3 to move in the second round.
In the second round, Djokic outlasted Paul Dandler 6-4, 4-6, 10-7 to moved into the semifinals of the "B" flight. Ganji was forced to retire in his quarterfinal match with Noak Lewis of Middlebury, while MacIntosh fell to Huasen Dong of Brandeis 6-4, 4-6, 10-7.
The "C" singles flight had two Jumbos competing, as first-year
Takehiro Shuda earned his first career victory with a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Crosby Burns of Bates in Round 1.
Oliver Obeid cruised to a 6-0, 6-1 win in Round 1, and followed that up with a 4-6, 6-3, 10-8 win in Round 2 over seeded Nikky Kondamuri of Middlebury. Shuda was defeated by Louis Bourne of Skidmore 4-6, 6-3, 11-9.
Obeid will play Sandeep Alapati of Colby at 11:00 a.m. in the "C" flight semifinals. Djokic will take on Nathan Jackson of Middlebury at 11 a.m. in the "B" flight semifinals. In the "D" singles bracket, first-year
Davide Mirza was topped by his Colby opponent 6-3, 6-2.
In the doubles' action, Vuksanovic and
Derin Acaroglu were felled in their first match of the day in the "A" flight. Also in the "A" flight, Ganji and MacIntosh were 8-5 winners over No. 2 seed Drover-Mattinen and Zhu of RPI to move into the quarterfinals.
In the "B" flight, top-seeded Djokic and
Corey Marley were 8-3 winners in their match of the day while
Javier Gonzalez and Maurico Gutierrez started action with an 8-5 win in the first round. Gonzalez and Gutierrez would follow that up by knocking off an RPI pair 8-4 to move into the doubles semifinals. The two Tufts pairs will battle each other on Sunday at 9:00 a.m. with a shot at the finals in the "B' flight.
Ganji and MacIntosh will play Sunday at 9:00 a.m. in the "A" flight semifinals, while Vuksanovic and Acaroglu will play in the "A" flight backdraw at 9:00 a.m. as well.
The second and final day of action will start at 9:00 a.m. on the campus of Middlebury College.
--JUMBOS--
