The Case Western Reserve University men's tennis team opened play at the 2022 Intercollegiate Tennis Association Division III Men's National Team Indoor Championship with a win on Friday afternoon, as the top-seeded Spartans bested eighth-seeded Gustavus Adolphus College 8-1 at the Mayfield Village Racquet Club in Mayfield, Ohio.
The win assured the Spartans' their best finish at the ITA Indoor Nationals since placing third in 2016. CWRU improved to 5-1 overall and increased their regular season winning streak against Division III opponents to 24-consecutive matches. The Gusties dropped to 6-2 following the loss.
Next up for the Spartans will be the semifinal match against fourth-seeded Trinity University, which edged Brandeis University 5-4 on Friday. On the other side of the draw, both seventh-seeded Wash U. (5-4 over second-seeded Emory) and sixth-seeded Chicago (5-4 over third-seeded Claremont-Mudd-Scripps) scored upsets to advance to the semifinals.
A rematch of the Spartans' 5-0 win over the Gusties in third round of last year's NCAA Championships produced similar results, with CWRU sweeping all six singles matches and claiming wins in two of the three doubles contests en route to the win.
The Spartans got on the board with a win at third doubles, as senior Chaitanya Aduru and junior Michael Sutanto bested Josh Christensen and Drew Elofson 8-2. At no. 1 singles, junior James Hopper and graduate student Jonathan Powell, ranked sixth nationally, added an 8-5 win over 11th-ranked Nick Aney and Alex Budde, putting CWRU ahead 2-0. The Gusties salvaged a point in the second doubles match, as Daniel Fouchier and Sourabh Terakanambi defeated sophomores Vishwa Aduru and Sahil Dayal 8-6.
In singles play, Powell extended the Spartans' lead to 3-1 with a 6-0, 6-1 win over Oscar Wikstrom in the sixth singles match. In the no. 1 singles match, sixth-ranked Hopper bested 33rd-ranked Neel Raut 6-0, 6-0 to put CWRU just a point away from clinching. Sutanto would follow with a win for the Spartans, securing the team victory with a 6-4, 6-1 triumph over Budde in the fourth singles match.
Adding to the Spartans win was 32nd-ranked Vishwa Aduru, who defeated 34th-ranked Aney 6-2, 7-6 in the second singles match, 10th-ranked first-year Ansh Shah, who bested 34th-ranked Aney in three sets in the third singles match, 4-6, 6-2, 1-0, and Chaitanya Aduru capped off the victory with a 6-0, 6-7, 1-0 win over Marco Siviero in the fifth singles match.
The Spartans' match with Trinity in Saturday's semifinal match is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. on Saturday at the Mayfield Village Racquet Club. For more information on the event, including links to live results and video, go to https://www.wearecollegetennis.com/events/events-division3-mens-indoors/.
