Melnikov, Koduri Advance to National Doubles Championship

ORLANDO - The Swarthmore College men's tennis pairing of Michael Melnikov and Utham Koduri defeated Case Western Reserve in the semifinals of the NCAA Individual Championship on Saturday afternoon. The Garnet advance to tomorrow's championship finale to battle top-seeded James Hooper and Vishwa Aduru from Case Western Reserve at 12:00 pm.

Melnikov and Koduri won their third doubles match of the weekend as they topped the team of Diego Maza and Chris Provenzano in the semifinals. With their backs against the wall after dropping the opening set, the Garnet battled back as they won a thrilling three-set showdown (6-4, 6-4, 7-6 (5)) against one of the nation's top doubles teams.

The first-year duo led early in the opening set as they jumped out to a 4-2 advantage. However, Case Western Reserve quickly turned things around with four-straight games to take the opener. Swarthmore took another early lead in the second set as they led 3-1 early in the stanza. The Garnet maintained the lead the entire game as they forced a third set with a 6-4 victory.

Both teams went back-and-forth in a tightly-contested third set. Case Western Reserve took control as they built a 5-3 lead to put pressure on the first-years. Swarthmore then countered with two-straight wins to tie the game at five, and then forced a tiebreaker after the Spartans took a 6-5 lead.

Swarthmore turned the tables on the Spartans with a 6-1 lead to open the tiebreaker. However, Case Western Reserve would not go away as they rallied for four-straight points to pull within one. The gritty Garnet squad regrouped and took care of business as they came through with the clinching point to advance to tomorrow's championship.

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