ROME, Ga. - Advik Mareedu earned a straight-set win in singles, and Henry Wilson and Sibi Raja earned a straight-set win in doubles, as the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men's tennis team's two entrants both advanced to the ITA Cup quarterfinals with opening-round wins on Thursday at the Rome Tennis Center.

Mareedu defeated Dean Kamenev of Emory 6-3, 7-6, taking the second-set tiebreaker 7-2, to win his 42nd straight match against a Division III opponent and move within three wins of his third ITA Cup title in four years. He will advance to play Michael Melnikov of Swarthmore in tomorrow's quarterfinal round. Kamenev had beaten Mareedu twice during the 2023-2024 season in their only other meetings, in the first round of the 2023 ITA Cup and then again in a dual match at the ITA National Team Indoors. Today's match turned in the second set, with Mareedu serving at 6-3, 4-4, and 30-40, facing two break points. Mareedu hit a backhand down the line that was overruled by the umpire, a second overrule which resulted in Mareedu winning both the point and the game.

Wilson and Raja got off to a fantastic start in their opening round match against John Lasanajak and Daniel Kim of Emory, winning the first set 6-0. In the second set, the Stags first years got up a break at 4-3, with a game point for 5-3, but couldn't convert. They then broke and held from 4-all to close out the match.

Wilson and Raja, who won the ITA West Regionals as an unseeded team, are seeded third at the ITA Cup and will move on to face Ryan Battaglia and Ryan Gipner of Mary Washington in the quarterfinals. Wilson and Raja are the third all-freshmen team in Stags Tennis history to qualify for the ITA Cup. Gui Schils and Larry Wang won the title in 2005, while Caleb Settles and Brandon Vu won two of three matches in 2024.

Singles will get underway tomorrow at 9 a.m. local time (6 a.m. Pacific), while doubles will get started at 1:30 p.m. Follow the complete ITA Cup draws and livestram at the link below:

ITA Cup