No. 12 Stanford men’s tennis (1-0, 0-0 Pac-12) took down St. Mary’s (0-1, 0-0 WCC) in a midday matchup on Thursday at the Taube Family Tennis Stadium. The team refused to relinquish a set in singles play on their way to a 7-0 victory.
After recent storms delayed the match by a day, the Cardinal started where they left off in fall tournament play and had little trouble against the Gaels.
In doubles, sophomores Max Basing and Anders Matta took their set comfortably at 6-2, while junior Arthur Fery and senior Neel Rajesh won 7-5 to secure the doubles point. Frosh Samir Banerjee and junior Aryan Chaudhary were bested in a tiebreak, losing 6-7 (5), but it would be the only set that Stanford dropped on the day.
As the singles matches began, it became clear early that St. Mary’s was outclassed in every matchup: all six Cardinal players won their first set without dropping more than three games. Banerjee, playing in the third slot, was the first to finish his match, winning 6-1, 6-1, with Chaudhary triumphing soon after, 6-0, 6-2.
It then became a race to see who could clinch the dual match first, with senior Filip Kolasinski ultimately claiming the fourth point 6-1, 6-2 to cement the victory for Stanford. Fery, Basing and Rajesh each won their second sets to push the final score to 7-0.
It was a resounding victory for the Cardinal, and exactly what the team needed in their first match of the season. With two top 10 players on the squad — No. 2 ranked freshmen Nishesh Basavareddywho won the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) National Fall Championships this past autumn, and base, ranked no. 7 — the Cardinal will be hoping to better their 12th-placed ranking in the national standings by the end of the season.
With the Sherwood Championships canceled, Stanford will next play Cal (0-1, 0-0 Pac-12) at Berkeley, on Jan. 20. The matches are set to begin at 1:30 pm PT.
