Men’s Tennis Claims Third National Championship in Program History

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. -- The University of Chicago men's tennis team took down #2 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps on Friday afternoon to bring home the third national championship in the past five seasons and the 11th National Championship in UChicago history.

Claremont-Mudd-Scripps came out strong in doubles play and claimed the doubles point with wins at #1 and #2 doubles, marking the third consecutive match that UChicago fell behind in a 1-0 hole after dropping the doubles point.

In singles play, the Maroons jumped out to big leads at the bottom of the lineup as the #3 through #6 players all broke serve in the first four games of the set. UChicago claimed four first sets at the bottom four spots, putting them in position to claim the title.

Despite the early leads for the Maroons, the Stags were able to double their lead with a 6-4, 6-1 victory at #1 singles by the #1 player in the nation. UChicago answered back just minutes later with wins at #5 and #6 singles to level the score at two.

Christian Liew rolled to a 6-2, 6-1 win at #6 singles for the first point, and

Ajer Sher added the second point with a 6-2, 6-4 win at #5 singles.

With the Stags needing to flip one of the bottom three matches in the third set, they got their chance as Henry Wilson pulled out the second set at #3 singles against

** **Alexander Ekstrand. However, the Maroons also flipped a match as

Emil Grantcharov bounced back from his opening set loss to win the second set 6-1 at #2 singles.

With the #2 and #3 singles matches in doubt in their deciding sets, the Maroons were able to find their first lead of the match thanks to the #4 singles player,

Michael Choi. After winning the first set 6-1, Choi fell behind 5-2 in the second set. However, earned a triple flip with a big break of serve to level the second set at 5-5. After a pair of holds, the two players went into a tiebreak, and Choi jumped out to an early 3-0 lead with a mini break. That mini break would be enough as he held the advantage for the remainder of the breaker, sealing the match win with a 6-1, 7-6(7-4) victory.

Despite the early lead for UChicago at #3 singles, the Stags would come all the way back to win 2-6, 6-3, 6-2, putting the entire national championship match in the hands of the #2 singles players. In the deciding set, Grantcharov threw the first punch as he broke in the opening game on a deuce point. Then, following a hold by Grantcharov, the senior broke once again for a 3-0 advantage. The Stags fought back with a break of serve at 3-0, but Grantcharov broke for the third time in the set to take a 4-1 lead. Following a hold by the Stagg Medal Winner, UChicago was just one game away from the National Championship. Grantcharov had a break point chance at 5-1, and a pair of match points at 5-2, but the Stags would not go away without a fight. Pham was able to hold serve at 5-3 to put the Maroons on edge, but Grantcharov did not blink this time as he held serve with a huge serve on match point, sealing the National Championship for UChicago.

With the win, the Maroons clinched the program's third National Championship in the past five seasons and the 11th National Championship in University of Chicago history. UChicago caps off their season with a 23-3 record overall on the season after winning both the NCAA and UAA titles.