FREDERICKSBURG, VA –
Mukundh Boopathi and
Joshua Kim became the eighth Johns Hopkins' doubles team to win the ITA Southeast Regional Championship on Sunday. The Blue Jays put three doubles teams in the semifinals and had a singles player in the semifinals.
Boopathi and Kim earn a spot in the 2025 ITA Cup as well as ITA All-America honors with their win. The ITA Cup is scheduled for October 16-19 at the Rome Tennis Center in Rome, GA.
Unseeded in the draw, Boopathi and Kim knocked off a pair of seeded teams en route to the championship. The duo opened the weekend with an 8-4 win over Aamish Pa and Winston Zhang (SC) before defeated ninth-seeded Ian Miller and Akshay Joshi (CMU), 8-7 (3). In the round of 16, they earned a second straight tie-break win, beating Andreas Mulner and Jacob Martin (RC), 8-7 (4).
Boopathi and Kim then grabbed an 8-3 win over Jed Platts and Sebastian Muller (VWU), 8-3, to earn a spot in the semifinals. There, Boopathi and Kim defeated their second seeded teammates,
Chakor Rajendra and
Allen Gong, 8-3. They then won the title by dropping just two games to Ryan Gipner and Ryan Battaglia (UMW).
Rajendra and Gong had a first-round bye and then beat Nikhil Lavu and Zachary Miano (HC), 8-1, to move to the round of 16. They then beat Rian Merchant and Takeshi Koey (CMU), 8-4, and ninth-seeded Kai Chen and Andres Fente (SC), 8-2. Rajendra and Gong's run ended in the semifinals to Boopathi and Kim.
Dylan Blenkiron and
Brian Yi, the number three seed in the draw, were the third Blue Jay doubles team to advance to the semifinals. After a first-round bye, the pair beat Zac Ashtiani and Nathan Arnold (FMC), 8-5. They then earned an 8-4 win over Bhuvanesh Kumaresan and James Smith (CNU) to advance to the quarterfinals. There Blenkiron and Yi beat fifth-seeded Alex Feies and Daniel Kong (CMU), 8-5. In the semifinals, they fell to Gipner and Battaglia in heartbreaker, 8-7 (7).
In the singles draw, Gong advanced to the semifinals for the second time in his career. Seeded fifth in the draw, he lost just one game in his opening-round win over Matthew Miller (MC). He nearly did the same in the second round, beating Ricards Spaks (LC) 6-1, 6-1. In the round of 16, Gong beat ninth-seeded Miller 6-3, 6-0 and then rallied to beath fourth-seeded Asher Willenborg (SU) 0-6, 7-6 (4), 1-0 (8). He lost to second-seeded, and eventual champion, Michael Melnikov (SC) 6-3, 7-5 in the semifinals.
Blenkiron, seeded fifth in the draw, opened with a 6-4, 7-5 win over Gipner. He then defeated Rainer Christiansen (CNU) 7-5, 6-2, to advance to the round of 16. There, he beat ninth-seeded Max-William Kanz (SIT) 7-5, 6-1. Blenkiron lost in the quarterfinals to Melnikov 6-3, 6-2. Boopathi, the ninth seed, came from behind to beat Kumaresan 3-6, 6-1, 1-0 (7). He then won 6-3, 3-6, 1-0 (5) over Samvid Andhare (SIT). Boopathi's three-set luck ran out in the round of 16 with a 6-4, 0-6, 1-0 (8) loss to fifth-seeded Dominick Suwak (SU).
Seeded third in the draw, Rajendra opened with a 6-1, 6-1 win over Mulner. He then lost just one game in a win over Tudor Vlad (VWU). He fell in the round of 16 to Koey 6-3, 6-4. Yi lost his opening-round match to Melnikov, falling in three sets 6-3, 1-6, 1-0 (5).
In the championship doubles draw,
Pranav Gadiraju and
Andy Zhu opened with an 8-4 win over Andhare and Dhaivik Chenemilla. They then beat Rao and Henry Imorde, 8-4, before falling to fifth-seeded Willenborg and Gurv Suri, 8-6, in the round of 16. After a first-round bye,
Jason Li and
Gabriel Xu fell in the round of 32 to Platts and Muller, 8-6.
In the Blue 1 singles draw, Li beat Deniz Finkel (UC) 6-1, 6-0 in the first round. He then won 6-1, 6-2 over Sanjheev Rao (WLU) to advance to the semifinals. There he lost to Nikola Galov (SC) 6-3, 0-6, 1-0 (3). Kim took a three-set win over Jack Gelman (FMC) 6-3, 3-6, 1-0 (8) in the opening round. He then lost to Nathan Russell (CNU) 7-6 (6), 6-1 in the quarterfinals. In the Blue 2 draw, Gadiraju dropped just two games in his opening round win over Zachary Miano (HC). He then won by retirement over William Fromherz (UMW) before falling to Aamish Pal (SC) 6-0, 6-2.
In the Blue 3 singles draw,
Daniel Greene did not lose a game in his win over Eli Entsminger (BC). He beat Soren Rudin-Aulenach 6-4, 6-2 but then lost to Harrison Silver (WLU) 6-3, 1-6, 1-0 (7) in the semifinals.
Owen Akers beat Ryan Good (WLU) 7-5, 6-4 in the first round and then Aron Bursztyn (SU) 3-6, 6-2, 1-0 (5). Akers lost a tight one to Zhang in the semifinals 7-5, 6-4. In the Blue 1 doubles draw, Akers and
Jack Wexler lost only one game in their first round win over Gunek Singh and Joaquin Sigala (MU). They then lost a close 8-6 match to Vincenzo Marchese and Carlos Haupt (RC).
