The Case Western Reserve University men’s tennis team continues to build on their historic spring season, with the doubles team of fourth-year James Hopper and third-year Vishwa Aduru taking the Division III Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Cup Doubles Championship on Oct. 15. This marks the second National Championship win for CWRU in the last three years, having previously been claimed by Hopper and Matthew Chen in 2019.

On the first of the three-day tournament in Rome, Georgia, the third-seeded duo faced John Zakowski and Luke VanDonslear of the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. Hopper and Aduru lost the first set 6-3 but mounted a comeback, winning the second and third sets 6-1 and 10-7, respectively. With the win, Hopper and Aduru advanced to the quarterfinals and earned All-America honors for this season, the fourth for Hopper and the first for Aduru.

The next day, Hopper and Aduru faced Matthew Feng and Eshaan Lumba of Pomona-Pitzer in the quarterfinals, claiming the victory with a 7-6 (3), 6-2 showing. Having advanced to the semifinals, Hopper and Aduru battled James Yu and Thomas Yu of Johns Hopkins University. Again, the Spartan duo did not miss a beat and won in straight sets of 7-6 (2), 6-2.

With these victories, Hopper and Aduru advanced to the ITA Cup finals, facing Derin Acaroglu and Vuk Vuksanovic of Tufts University the following day.

The first set was incredibly close, but Hopper and Aduru could not hold on, losing 7-5 to the Tufts duo. However, the Spartans came back with vengeance in the second, rallying for the 6-4 victory and taking it all the way to the top of the podium with the 10-3 win the third set. The win secured the championship, as the pair improved to 9-2 overall in doubles play this season.

The title win has given Hopper and Aduru the right to submit their names for a wildcard berth in the ITA Fall National Championships in San Diego. The competition will feature the top 32 men’s double teams in college tennis.

Hopper and Aduru were named the UAA Athletes of the Week and the Spartan Club Athletes of the Week. Hopper earned his 10th UAA honor, building on his highly successful collegiate career which includes the coveted 2022 NCAA Division III Doubles Championship win alongside CWRU tennis alum Jonathan Powell. The UAA honor was the first for Aduru.

The rest of the team concluded their 2022 fall season on Oct. 14 at the Everybody vs. Cancer Invitational hosted by the University of Toledo. In addition to Division III rival Denison College, multiple Division I competitors were present, including Toledo, Marquette University, Duquesne University and Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis.

The Spartans finished 14-10 in the singles and 8-5 in doubles play. Second-year Ajay Mahenthiran led the Spartans after going 3-1 in singles play. Third-year Daniel French, second-year Casey Hishinuma and Third-year Yuvraj Narang went undefeated in singles play (2-0).

For the doubles, fourth-year Chris Provenzano led the Spartans in the doubles competitions, taking a 4-0 mark while fourth-year Michael Sutanto added a 3-1 record. Third-year Sahil Dayal went 2-0 while fourth-year Diego Maza recorded a 2-1 doubles mark.

With the fall season complete, the team will return to the courts on Feb. 10 to face Wayne State University and Northwestern Ohio University to begin their spring campaign.