DALLAS, Texas – The Purdue men's tennis team dropped the opening match of the 2022 dual season Saturday afternoon at SMU, falling 4-3. Athell Bennett was the lone Boilermaker to win both his singles and doubles contests.
Purdue struck first taking the opening doubles point. Polish duo Michal Wozniak and Piotr Galus picked up the first doubles win of the dual season with a 6-4 decision against Caleb Chakravarthi and Pranav Kumar at No. 2. Milledge Cossu and Athell Bennett, the latter who was playing his first dual match in nearly two years, sealed the opening point with a 6-4 win over Adam Neff and Ivan Thamma at the top of the order.
After SMU took the lead with wins at No. 6 and 3, Bennett evened the match with a straight-sets win against Chakravarthi at No. 1, 6-1, 6-4. Tied at 2-2, the three remaining singles matches all went to a decisive third set.
The Mustangs sealed the dual win by winning at No. 2 and 4 in the third 6-0 and 6-2, respectively.
Gabriele Brancatelli gave Purdue a good note to end on with a dominant third set against Thamma at No. 5 to win his first singles dual, 6-3, 1-6, 6-1.
PURDUE (0-1) – 3, SMU (3-0) – 4
Singles
1. Athell Bennett (PUR) def. Caleb Chakravarthi (SMU) – 6-1, 6-4
2. Liam Krall (SMU) def. Sebastian Welch (PUR) – 6-3, 4-6, 6-0
3. Adam Neff (SMU) def. Tomasz Dudek (PUR) – 6-3, 6-3
4. Julian Steinhausen (SMU) def. Rohan Sachdev (PUR) – 6-3, 3-6, 6-2
5. Gabriele Brancatelli (PUR) def Ivan Thamma (SMU) – 5-3, 1-6, 6-1
6. Pranav Kumar (SMU) def. Milledge Cossu (PUR) – 4-3, ret.
Doubles
1. Milledge Cossu/Athell Bennett (PUR) def. Adam Neff/Ivan Thamma (SMU) – 6-4
2. Piotr Galus/Michal Wozniak (PUR) def. Caleb Chakravarthi/Pranav Kumar (SMU) – 6-4
3. Julian Steinhausen/Liam Krall (SMU) def. Tomasz Dudek/Gabriele Brancatelli (PUR) – 6-3
Order of Finish
Singles – 6,3,1,2,4,5
Doubles – 2,1,3
UP NEXT
The Boilermakers will head to No. 24 Oklahoma on Monday for a 1 p.m. (ET) tilt against the Sooners.