MOUNT BERRY, GA (October 12, 2024) -- Juniors
Alex Ganchev and
Sacha Maes continued their magical three week run together in doubles play, as the duo won their third straight match at the 2024 Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Cup at the Rome Tennis Center and will play in the ITA Cup finals Sunday morning.
Ganchev and Maes battled Emil Grantcharov and Derek Hsieh of the University of Chicago in the semifinals on Saturday and controlled the first set 6-2. In the opening frame, Tufts picked up a break at 1-1 and another at 4-2 while holding serve the entire set to roll to the 1-0 lead. In the second set, Maes and Ganchev got down 4-1 but rattled off three straight games to tie the set at four to get back on serve.
In the second-set tiebreak, Chicago's pair scored the first four points but Tufts answered with four straight to tie it back up. The Maroons' pair had a set point at 6-5 but a double fault tied the breaker at six. The teams exchanged points until 8-8, when the Jumbos picked up two straight points on Chicago's serve to earn the match 6-2, 7-6 (8).
In the match, Tufts won a very strong 61 percent of its second serve points to just the 30 percent for Grantcharov and Hsieh of Chicago. Tufts was also 4-for-12 on break points in the match, fending off four of six chances for the Maroons.
Tufts will now take on Denison University's Ethan Green and Kael Shalin Shah at 11 a.m. Sunday, who topped Josh Christensen and Marco Siviero of Gustavus Adolphus 7-6 (6), 6-1.
In consolation action Saturday,
Javier Gonzalez and
Stavros Mastrogamvrakis fell to Allen Gong and Dylan Blenkiron of Johns Hopkins University, 6-4, 6-2 in the North bracket semifinals.
In singles,
Vuk Vuksanovic moved into the North bracket finals with a 6-1, 6-2 win over John Lasanajak of Emory University.
--JUMBOS--
