BERKELEY, Calif. – They don't call it a rivalry for nothing. The latest edition of the storied battle between Stanford and California lasted well past three hours, ending with a big Cardinal road victory. William Genesen won a three-set thriller to clinch a 4-3 win for the No. 12 Cardinal over the No. 41 Golden Bears Saturday afternoon at Hellman Tennis Complex.
The victory moved Stanford (14-5) into a tie with California (11-10) at 3-3 in the Pac-12. It also gave Stanford a regular-season sweep of Cal for the second consecutive season, extending the Cardinal's winning streak to four over the Bears. The Cardinal holds the important tiebreaker in seeding for the conference tournament with Saturday's win.
Playing without its top player – Axel Geller – for the second consecutive match, Stanford moved its lineup around again. The duo of Sameer Kumar and Timothy Sah picked up dual win No. 10 on the season with a victory at No. 1 doubles. Moments later, Alexandre Rotsaert and Sangeet Sridhar picked up the win at No. 3 in their first dual match together. The Cardinal duo sealed the win and the doubles point with an ace.
Cal jumped ahead quickly in singles with straight-set wins at No. 1 and No. 5.
Sridhar captured his sixth dual win of the season, earning the 6-3, 6-2 win at No. 6 to tie the dual up. Sah, however, dropped a very hard-fought battle at No. 4, losing in a pair of tiebreakers for his first defeat in seven dual matches.
Trailing, 3-2, Stanford relied on its veterans – Kumar and William Genesen – to pull out the road win. That's exactly what they did.
Kumar held to jump ahead 6-5 in the decisive third set and the senior would not be denied from there, breaking Cal's Paul Barretto to seal the 7-5 win.
With the match tied at 3-3, all eyes turned to court two, where Genesen had battled back from a
6-3 opening-set defeat. The Cardinal junior captured a 6-4 win in the second set and took a commanding 4-1 lead early in the third. Cal's Jack Molloy cut it to 5-4, however, feeding off the energy of the home crowd in Berkeley.
Much like Kumar earlier, Genesen refused to be denied. He broke Molloy in the next game to take the match, as his teammates rushed the court to celebrate the rivalry win.
With two matches remaining in the regular season, Stanford continues its road stretch with a trip to Eugene, Oregon on Friday for a 2 p.m. match against Oregon. No. 12 Stanford 4, No. 41 California 3
DOUBLES
1. Sameer Kumar/ Timothy Sah (STAN) d. Paul Barretto/Can Kaya (CAL) 6-4
2. Jack Molloy/Mert Zincirli (CAL) led Jack Barber/William Genesen (STAN) 4-3 UNF
3. Alexandre Rotsaert/Sangeet Sridhar (STAN) d. Ben Draper/Yuta Kikuchi (CAL) 6-3
Order of Finish: 1,3
SINGLES
1. Yuta Kikuchi (CAL) d. No. 45 Alexandre Rotsaert (STAN) 6-1, 6-4
2. William Genesen (STAN) d. Jack Molloy (CAL) 3-6, 6-4, 6-4
3. No. 91 Sameer Kumar (STAN) d. Paul Barretto (CAL) 6-4, 1-6, 7-5
4. Ben Draper (CAL) d. Timothy Sah (STAN) 7-6(1), 7-6(6)
5. Bjorn Hoffmann (CAL) d. Michael Genender (STAN) 6-2, 6-3
6. Sangeet Sridhar (STAN) d. Mert Zincirli (CAL) 6-3, 6-2
Order of Finish: 1,5,6,4,3,2