Indiana men’s tennis continued its fall season with a strong showing at the Louisville Invitational on Oct. 2-4 at the Bass-Rudd Tennis Center in Louisville, Kentucky.
Four Hoosiers competed in the three-day tournament, combining for a 10-2 singles record and a 4-2 doubles record. Sophomore Aryan Badlani and freshman Zavier Augustin led Indiana in singles play, finishing the weekend undefeated at 3-0.
Indiana opened the tournament Friday without dropping a match, going 4-0 in singles and 2-0 in doubles against players from Belmont University and Eastern Kentucky University.
Junior Ariel Zauber battled back after dropping his opening set against Belmont junior Charlie Robin 6-7 (7-3). He then won the next two sets 6-3, 6-3. Badlani followed with a straight-sets victory over Belmont freshman Jesús Salgado, 6-3, 6-4.
Augustin and junior Karan Raghavendra also began the weekend with straight-sets victories over Eastern Kentucky. Raghavendra defeated junior Chad Valdes 6-4, 6-2, while Augustin defeated sophomore Cole Wilber 6-4, 6-3.
The Hoosiers also swept Friday’s one-set doubles matches. Zauber and Badlani defeated Robin and Salgado 7-6 (8-6), then Raghavendra and Augustin defeated Valdes and Wilber 6-2.
Indiana’s success continued into Saturday, winning five out of its six matches.
Zauber and Badlani both secured straight-set victories, defeating University of Louisville senior Russel Lokko and freshman Artem Dmytrenko, respectively. Augustin improved to 2-0 in singles with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Belmont freshman Judah McEachern-Brown.
Raghavendra took Indiana’s only loss of the day in a three-set battle against Belmont junior Kostiantyn Mantach. After dropping the first set 4-6, Raghavendra came back and won the second set 7-5 before losing the final set 5-7.
Both of the Hoosiers’ doubles teams remained undefeated Saturday. Zauber and Badlani took down Louisville’s Lokko and Dmytrenko 7-5, while Raghavendra and Augustin defeated Mantach and McEachern-Brown 6-4.
On Sunday, Indiana closed out the tournament winning three out of four singles matches, although both doubles teams suffered their first losses of the weekend.
Badlani completed his undefeated singles weekend with a 6-3, 6-2 straight-sets victory over University of Tennessee freshman Martin Doskocil. Augustin joined him at 3-0 after defeating Louisville freshman Preston Taylor 6-1, 6-2.
Raghavendra finished the tournament with a 7-5, 6-4 victory over Louisville freshman Maksim Hristov, giving him a 2-1 singles record over the weekend.
Zauber came close to an undefeated weekend but fell to Tennessee sophomore Shion Itsusaki in a tight match. They split the first two sets, then Itsusaki won the deciding tiebreak in the third set to win 4-6, 6-3, 6-7 (12-10).
Both of the Hoosiers’ doubles pairs lost their final matches of the weekend. Zauber and Badlani lost to Tennessee’s Itsusaki and Doskocil 2-6. Raghavendra and Augustin also lost to Louisville’s Hristov and Taylor 2-6.
Despite the two Sunday losses, both of Indiana’s doubles pairs went a successful 2-1 in the tournament. All four Hoosiers finished with a winning record in singles, led by Badlani and Augustin’s undefeated weekends.
Indiana will return to action Oct. 8 in Nashville, Tennessee, for the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Ohio Valley Regional Championships. This tournament will run until Oct. 13.
