NEW YORK – The seventh-ranked Columbia men's tennis team cruised to a 4-0 victory over Miami on Saturday afternoon at the Philip and Cheryl Milstein Family Tennis Center to earn a date with No. 24 Florida on Sunday to determine which team advances to the ITA National Team Indoor Championships in February.
Columbia secured doubles victories in the two and three positions to clinch the doubles point and start the match in a favorable position. The duo of
Max Westphal and
Sachin Palta worked quick to post a 6-2 win against Nacho Serra Sanchez and Leonardo Dal Boni in the No. 2 spot. The 75
th-ranked team of
Hugo Hashimoto and
Jayden Templeman battled down the stretch for a 6-3 win over Mehdi Sadaoui and Jules Garot at the No. 3 position to clinch the doubles point for the Lions.
The top doubles match went unfinished as
Michael Zheng and
Nicolas Kotzen trailed Martin Katz and Antonio Prat, 4-5 when the Lions secured the doubles point.
Following doubles action, Westphal, Hashimoto and
Thanaphat Boosarawongse posted straight-sets singles victories to lead the Lions to the 4-0 team win.
First-year Boosarawongse earned his first dual victory as a Lion with a dominant 6-0, 6-0 sweep of Jules Garot in the No. 6 spot to kick things off for Columbia in singles play. No. 33 Hashimoto then finished off a 6-1, 6-4 victory against Dal Boni in the No. 4 singles to pull the Lions within one point of clinching the team victory.
Westphal turned in the clinching victory by defeating Sanchez in the No. 3 singles, 6-2, 6-2 to seal a 4-0 win for Columbia in the first match of ITA Kickoff Weekend.
No. 1 Zheng and Palta both captured the first set of their singles matches. They both trailed in the second set as their matches went unfinished. No. 42 Kotzen dropped the first set to Prat in the No. 2 singles, but bounced back for a 4-2 advantage in the second set when the match was clinched by Columbia.
RESULTS
#7 Columbia 4, Miami 0
Doubles
1.
Michael Zheng/
Nicolas Kotzen (COL) vs. Martin Katz/Antonio Prat (UM) 4-5, unfinished
2.
Max Westphal/
Sachin Palta (COL) def. Nacho Serra Sanchez/Leonardo Dal Boni (UM) 6-2
3. #75
Hugo Hashimoto/
Jayden Templeman (COL) def. Mehdi Sadaoui/Jules Garot (UM) 6-3
Singles
1. #1
Michael Zheng (COL) vs. #51 Martin Katz (UM) 6-2, 3-5, unfinished
2. #42
Nicolas Kotzen (COL) vs. Antonio Prat (UM) 5-7, 4-2, unfinished
3.
Max Westphal (COL) def. Nacho Serra Sanchez (UM) 6-2, 6-2
4. #33
Hugo Hashimoto (COL) def. Leonardo Dal Boni (UM) 6-1, 6-4
5.
Sachin Palta (COL) vs. Mehdi Sadaoui (UM) 6-2, 3-4, unfinished
6.
Thanaphat Boosarawongse (COL) def. Jules Garot (UM) 6-0, 6-0
Order of finish: Doubles (2,3); Singles (6,4,3)
UP NEXT
Columbia returns to action Sunday at 2 p.m. against No. 24 Florida in the final match of ITA Kickoff Weekend. A Columbia win would send the Lions to the ITA National Team Indoor Championships for the second straight season.
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