Indiana men’s tennis continued its fall individual schedule Thursday through Sunday. However, after the disappointment at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association All-American Championships last week, the Hoosiers rebounded due to sophomore Braeden Gelletich making the tournament championship.
The 13th-seeded Gelletich fell to Texas Christian University freshman Maximus Dussault in straight sets 1-6, 2-6. The 1:03 long match saw Gelletich win 33 out of the 85 total points played. Both players double-faulted twice, but Dussault had two aces and won 77% of his first serve points, while Gelletich won 48%.
A double fault on Dussault to open the first set gave Gelletich confidence, but Dussault shut that door with an ace to go up 1-0. Four consecutive points for Gelletich on his first service game tied the set at 1-1, however he was broken by Dussault on his next service game.
Dussault took the 3-1 lead and did not look back in the first set. An ace finished out the first set 6-1, giving him all the momentum going into the second set.
It helped, as Dussault was able to break Gelletich’s service games twice and win games when he was serving to go up 4-0 in the second set. Gelletich was able to fight back when serving but could not break Dussault's serve and lost 2-6.
Gelletich received a bye in the first round before facing U.S. Naval Academy junior Jason Kim in the second round. The Goshen, New York, native lost the opening set before winning the next two to defeat Kim 4-6, 7-5, 10-4.
Gelletich also lost the first set of his third-round matchup against University of Illinois, Chicago, sophomore Simon Knezevic, but he found his way in the second set to win 5-7, 6-0, 10-7.
In the quarterfinals, Gelletich faced the No. 4 seed Purdue sophomore Maj Premzl. His streak of losing the first set continued in a 6(0)-7, 6-3, 13-11 victory to advance to the semifinals. He faced an easier opponent as the No. 1 seed Purdue junior Henrik Villanger lost in the quarterfinals to TCU junior Filip Apltauer 3-6, 1-6. Gelletich took the opening set but still needed three sets to defeat the ninth-seeded Apltauer 6-4, 3-6, 10-8 to advance to the final.
Three other Indiana players entered the tournament — senior Deacon Thomas, redshirt freshman Aidan Atwood and sophomore Karan Raghavendra — played at the Nicolet Tennis Center and Western Racquet Club in Glendale and Elm Grove, Wisconsin, respectively.
Thomas was the No. 14 seed, and a bye advanced him to the second round where he faced Dussault coming off a 6-4, 6-2 win over Northwestern sophomore Vincent Yang. Thomas went down early and could not claw back in a 0-6, 3-6 loss.
Atwood started the tournament strong with a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Marquette University sophomore Remi St. Laurent in the first round. However, a second-round 3-6, 2-6 loss against second-seeded Purdue junior Juan David Velasquez ended his tournament.
Raghavendra also moved into the second round after a 7-6(5), 6-3 win over DePaul University graduate student Sven Moser. He then faced Northwestern senior Chad Miller, and the No. 10 seed defeated Raghavendra 6-3, 5-7, 10-5.
Indiana competed in doubles in addition to singles during the tournament. All matches played were only one set long. Thomas and Raghavendra faced James Madison University redshirt senior Ryan Morgan and sophomore Aurelien Schmitt in the first round, winning 6-4. The pair then lost to the No. 1 seeded Oregon duo of freshman Sam Olszakowski and senior Matthew Burton 4-6.
Gelletich and Atwood were teammates against DePaul sophomores Tobias Leitner and Andy Hadziabdic in a 6-3 victory in the first round. In their second-round matchup against No. 8 seeded TCU duo of junior Kaj Quirijns and Apltauer, they pushed the contest into the tiebreaker but ultimately lost 6(3)-7.
Indiana men’s tennis will continue the fall season in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, at the Middle Tennessee State University Invite on Oct. 3-5.
