Ekstrand and Murugesan Reach Quarterfinal Round with Pair of Victories

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. -- The University of Chicago men's tennis team saw a pair of individuals reach the quarterfinals with perfect 2-0 days on the courts in the opening rounds of the Men's Individual Singles Tournament.

Shrikeshav Murugesan rolled to a straight-set win in his opening round match against Kishan Kersten from Trinity (TX). After a pair of traded breaks and a hold by Murugesan, the two players played three consecutive games to deuce points, but the Trinity (TX) player got the best of Murugesan, winning two of the three deciding points, to level the set at 3-3. After a game-love hold by Murugesan, the Edison, New Jersey native continued to roll, winning 14 of the final 15 points of the set to win 6-3. Kersten battled back in the second set, but Murugesan drew first blood once again with a break at 2-2, and he won a huge deuce point at 4-2 for his second break of the set. Kersten got a break of his own at 5-2, but Murugesan closed it out with his sixth break of the match to hold on for a 6-3, 6-3 victory over the #34 player in the country.

In his second round match, Murugesan faced a tough challenge against the #38 player in the country, Max Lindstrom from Swarthmore. After a pair of holds each way, Lindstrom picked up the opening break on a big deuce point. Then, following a break back by Murugesan, Lindstrom broke for the second consecutive game on another deuce point, and he would hold out for the 6-4 set. In the second set, Lindstrom took an early lead again with two more breaks of serve for a 3-2 advantage, but Murugesan broke and held to flip the lead back his way at 4-3. Murugesan then proceeded to win the final 10 games of the game, sealing the 4-6, 6-3, 6-0 victory. Murugesan won 34 of the final 39 points in the match, putting a bow on an impressive day to open the singles draw.

Alexander Ekstrand drew a very tough opening round matchup as he battled the #8 player in the nation, Alex Merson from Babson. Merson opened the match with a bang, breaking serve in the opening game on a big deuce point, and he earned another break of serve at 3-1, cruising to a 6-2 win in the opening set. After the early wake up call, Ekstrand battled back, holding on a huge deuce point in the opening game. Then, after holding on deuce point for the second time in three service games, Ekstrand drew first blood with a break at 3-2 to take a 4-2 lead. He continued to hold the rest of the set, fighting off three break points at 5-3 to win the second set. In the deciding set, Ekstrand drew first blood once with a game-love break at 2-2, but Merson answered right back with a break of his own. With the Babson player leading 5-4, Ekstrand faced three break points for the match, but for the second time in the match, he saved all three points to hold, leveling the score at 5-5. After a pair of holds, the duo went into a tiebreak, and Ekstrand won four straight points out of the changeover to win 7-3 in the deciding tiebreak.

In his second round match, Ekstrand took on the lone unranked player remaining in the field, and he took control early in the match. After an opening hold from Eugene Lee of Vassar, Ekstrand won six consecutive games, including three breaks of serve to take the opening set 6-1. In the second set, Lee struck back with a break to take a 3-1 lead, but Ekstrand earned a break of his own to level the match at 4-4 in the second set. Despite the break, Lee answered right back with a pair of break points at 4-4, but Ekstrand saved both points to take a 5-4 lead. Lee then had to battle back and had a pair of game points on his serve with a 40-30 lead, but Ekstrand won back-to-back points for his fifth break of the match, sealing the 6-1, 6-4 victory.

Emil Grantcharov also qualified for the singles draw, but he fell in a tough three-set match to Dominik Knutson from Gustavus Adolphus. Grantcharov fell behind early after being broke in his first three service games, but the senior battled back with two breaks of his own. Unfortunately, after a hold at 2-4, Grantcharov was broken for a fourth time and dropped the opening set 6-3. In the second set, the New Rochelle, New York native bounced right back and earned three consecutive breaks of serve of his own early in the set. Knutson looked to bounce back, winning 10 consecutive points to even the set at 4-4, but Grantcharov won a huge deuce point to break and held for the 6-4 second set win. In the final set, the breaks shifted once again as Knutson took a 4-0 lead with two holds and two breaks. Grantcharov had a couple of chances down the stretch, but it was too little, too late as his season came to an end with a 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 defeat to the #29 player in the nation.

Ekstrand and Murugesan became the first University of Chicago teammates to both reach the quarterfinal round of the singles draw since Nicholas Chua and Erik Kerrigan in 2017. They are also just the fifth and sixth players in program history to reach the quarterfinals of the singles draw, joining

Derek Hsieh (2024) and Will Zhang (2009) as well as Chua and Kerrigan (2017).

The UChicago teammates will return to the courts on Sunday, May 24 at 10 AM CT at the Champions Tennis Club for their quarterfinal matches. Murugesan will face a rematch from the Team National Championship against Advik Mareedu from Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, the #1 player in the country, and Ekstrand will battle another familiar foe in Mark Kneiss the #1 singles player from Bowdoin who the Maroons beat in the Team Quarterfinals, the #3 player in the country.