CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Harvard men's tennis (2-3) won its home opener this evening, defeating Purdue (2-3), 4-3, at the Murr Center.
The Crimson pulled in front to start, securing the doubles point with wins on court two and three. Despite Purdue striking first with a win on court one, it was all Harvard to move to 1-0 in the match. In their first appearance of the dual season,
James MacDonald and
Masato Perera cruised to a 6-2 victory at the No. 3 spot.
Kolos Kincses and
Rohan Murali then improved to 4-0 on the year with a 6-3 win to secure the doubles point.
Harvard then clinched the match with three straight singles wins beginning with
Nathan Blokhin defeating Stefan Simeunovic (Purdue) in a convincing 6-3, 6-2 result.
Murali continued his hot start to his junior season, dropping Henrik Villanger on court two, 6-2, 7-5.
Marc Ktiri then clinched the match and recorded his first dual season win with a gritty 7-6 (4), 7-5 victory at the No. 6 spot.
The Boilermakers would go on to take the final three outstanding matches to settle the match at 4-3.
Results
Harvard – 4,
Purdue – 3
Doubles
- Maj Premzl/Stefan Simeunovic (Purdue) def. Nathan Blokhin/Benjamin Privara (Harvard), 6-1
- Kolos Kincses/Rohan Murali (Harvard) def. Nour Fathalla/Henrik Villanger (Purdue), 6-3
- James MacDonald/Masato Perera (Harvard) def. Juan David Velasquez/Jacob Lee (Purdue), 6-2
Order of finish: 1, 3, 2
Singles
- No. 76 Nour Fathalla (Purdue) def. No. 109 Benjamin Privara (Harvard), 1-6, 6-4, 6-2
- Rohan Murali (Harvard) def. Henrik Villanger (Purdue), 6-2, 7-5
- Nathan Blokhin (Harvard) def. Stefan Simeunovic (Purdue), 6-3, 6-2
- Juan David Velasquez (Purdue) def. Masato Perera (Harvard), 7-5, 6-7 (4), 12-10
- Maj Premzl (Purdue) def. Mitchell Lee (Harvard), 4-6, 7-6 (6), 10-7
- Marc Ktiri (Harvard) def. Nikola Jovic (Purdue), 7-6 (4), 7-5
Order of finish: 3, 2, 6, 1, 5, 4
Next Up
The Crimson will return to action with a double-header on Sunday against Michigan at 11:00 a.m. and Merrimack at 3:00 p.m. at the Murr Center.
