The men’s tennis team’s fall campaign is entering its final stages, but it’s been a long, eventful adventure — from early-season Ivy invitationals to national qualifying tournaments on opposite coasts. It began with developmental weekends at Yale and Penn, where the Red’s younger players gained match experience while the seasoned veterans found their rhythm.
Momentum built at the ITA New England Regionals, where junior Felipe Pinzon and senior Petar Teodorovic captured the doubles crown, securing Cornell’s second straight appearance at the NCAA Tournament. Soon after, the team turned its focus to the Ivy League Championships, highlighted by the standout performances of sophomore Rushil Khosla and freshman Rethin Pranav Senthil Kumar. The lifelong friends from India lifted the Ivy doubles title and earned another chance to qualify for NCAAs through an event in San Diego, California.
That journey has led us to where we are now.
This past weekend, the Red wrapped its fall season at two national tournaments — one in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and another in San Diego — each offering Cornell players another opportunity to measure themselves against an array of competitors from across the country.
This weekend of competition brought both challenges and promise.
At the ITA East Sectional Championship in Chapel Hill, sophomore Rodrigo Fernandes’ results were mixed, splitting his early matches before falling to a top player from the University of South Carolina. The focus for him now, his coach noted, is clarity — refining his identity on court and understanding how he wants to shape his game. Fernandes finishes the fall with a team-best 10–3 singles record, a strong foundation heading into the spring dual season.
Pinzon, meanwhile, battled through one of the weekend’s most dramatic matches. After defeating a No. 91 nationally-ranked athlete from Wake Forest University, the reigning NCAA champion program, he came heartbreakingly close to another win but fell in back-to-back tiebreaks to a Harvard competitor. He now turns his focus to teaming up with Teodorovic as the pair prepares for next week’s NCAA Tournament.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the country, the doubles duo of Khosla and Kumar took the courts in San Diego for the ITA Conference Masters, aiming for a spot in the NCAA doubles draw. After a dominant opening-round win, they came within a few points of upsetting the tournament’s top-seeded pair from Pepperdine University but fell just short in a third-set tiebreak.
The loss, though frustrating, highlighted their strengths and was a valuable learning experience, according to head coach Silviu Tanasoiu.
“[We] just didn't play intentional enough, didn't play aggressive enough,” he said. “To close out that match, we were playing way too passive, and I think Pepperdine took advantage of it.”
Tanasoiu said the emphasis now shifts to preparation for the next phase of the season, which includes the upcoming Pro Tennis Tour (PTT) event hosted at Cornell and the NCAA Championships, where Teodorovic and Pinzon will represent the Red.
“Now, just getting ready for a PTT (pro tennis tour) this upcoming week at home, (it is) a super tough field much tougher than the first week we had,” he said. “There are so many tough matches ahead for our guys, which is exactly what we're looking for. And then at the same time the preparation for the NCAA for Petar and Felipe.”
Austin Curtis is a freshman in the College of Arts and Sciences. He is a Sun Staff Writer and can be reached at acurtis@cornellsun.com.
